Eeeee. I swear, sometimes, that my entire family has broken a mirror.

I was just IMing with my cousin, T. His dad, Uncle T, has been battling with shingles for the past few weeks. As shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox, he asked the doc if his wife (Aunt J) or son (T) can contract chicken pox. He was told, "No".

Well, I know that Aunt J and my mother, who are sisters, both had chicken pox as children. (I found this out when I came down with chicken pox myself, at age 7.) So in her case, "no" was the correct answer.

But T, apparently, never had chicken pox as a kid. I could have sworn he did, but evidently, I was mistaken... because he's in his 30s and he's got them NOW. Argh and double argh!

So, as a note to self since any person who's had chicken pox can have an episode of shingles later: yes, a person with shingles CAN transmit chicken pox to someone who's never had the virus before.

Whoever finds a way to get that dormant chicken pox virus out of a person's system will be doing the human race an immense favor.