The years that we caught stuff were hell on earth for my mom. Four kids, and we seemed to each catch these things in sequence about a week apart. Measles, mumps, chicken pox, they were rough. Asian flu hit our household so hard that my kindergarten age sister made the executive decision to stay home from school to take care of the toddler because our mother was so sick in bed.

The idea that so many modern Americans thumb their noses at the medical miracle of vaccination is confounding to those of us who had those illnesses and made sure to get our children vaccinated to avoid them.