This little piggy...

A lot of important stuff happened the year you were born.

This man took office as the first African American President of the United States...

A little boy pretended to float away in a large helium balloon that resembled a flying saucer. The King of Pop, Michael Jackson died.

Our country was in a recession...

After a flock of geese attacked a plane's engine, the pilot safely landed it in the Hudson River.

AND... the SWINE FLU struck.

Swine influenza virus is any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs. I copied and pasted that from Wikipedia. Never do that, son. Anyone can edit a Wikipedia page. It's just rubbish, a useless resource I use all of the time. No, you will go to a library and use a real encyclopedia for god's sake.

It's been pretty frightening, actually. The outbreak began in the spring, right after you were born. I already was a freak about people touching you, asking them to wash their hands in a pot of boiling water. Throw a pending global pandemic on top of my existing new mother fears and forget it... we locked you in a basement for your first 3 months of life.

Ok you got me, we didn't really do that. But it was still scary for awhile. Then, it seemed to go away. We enjoyed our hand sanitizer-free summer days, frolicking around without a care in the world! Until, fall came and with that, the flu season. Piggy flu popped up again, and this time it was everywhere. I know a guy who knows a girl who saw on Facebook that this other guy has it. Yeah, that bad.

But DO NOT FRET, my son, because today your father and I got our vaccines! No, they didn't have one for you, so I guess you can fret a little. But, I WILL NOT SLEEP until you've had your shot. Well, I'll sleep a little, because it's good for my immune system, but you know what I mean. Besides, it's good news for you that I've had my shot especially, because I'm still nursing you. No Swine Flu is entering this house. The only piggy you'll ever hear about is the one that goes wee wee wee all the way home.