If it feels like everyone around you has had the flu lately, it’s because they probably have.

This year’s flu season came in swinging–and it didn’t let up. The bugs were back in town early, they stayed longer than anyone wanted them to, and they weren’t here to play nice. They brought tissues, tea kettles, and a whole lot of cranky people. By the time we hit March, the CDC was estimating something like 45 million flu cases nationwide. That’s almost one in seven Americans knocked flat by this year’s version of the virus.

Maybe you were one of the lucky ones who dodged it. Maybe you were the unlucky one who caught it twice. Either way, this season was rougher than usual.

This year’s flu hit early in some places and seemed to peak just when we were all still trying to remember how to spell “February.” New York had one of its worst seasons in over a decade. California’s Bay Area reported a staggering 70% of respiratory virus tests coming back positive for influenza at one point. Seventy percent! I don’t know about you, but I start holding my breath in grocery store aisles when it hits 20.

The thing is, when the flu hits hard, it doesn’t just mean more Kleenex and thermometers. It means crowded emergency rooms, full pediatric units, and schools that suddenly look like ghost towns. This year was especially hard on kids.. There were hundreds of serious complications reported, including some heartbreaking losses. Those are the stories that don’t always make the front page, but they hit home.

You could feel it everywhere. In town, at the post office, in line at the bank–people looked tired. Sniffly. Pale. I overheard one woman in the grocery store say her husband had been sick for so long, she wasn’t sure if he was recovering or just becoming part of the couch. It’s a season that lingered.

The main culprits this year were two strains of influenza A: H3N2 and H1N1. That second one might sound familiar–it’s the same one we all freaked out about back in 2009, and apparently, it’s still alive and kicking. The viruses have a way of mutating and circling back like old TV shows. Just when you think they’re gone, they come back in reruns.

And for those who got sick, it wasn’t mild. Fevers that dragged on, coughs that wouldn’t quit, fatigue that felt like you were walking through molasses. I knew folks who lost 10 pounds, not because they were trying–but because they couldn’t eat anything that wasn’t toast or saltines. One friend told me she got sick in January and didn’t feel like herself again until March. That’s not just the flu–that’s a seasonal identity crisis.

Health officials kept urging people to take precautions–stay home when sick, wash your hands, cover your cough, and avoid crowded places if you’re under the weather. That sounds like common sense, but let’s be honest: people don’t always listen. There’s always that one coworker who insists on coming in to “tough it out,” coughing into their sleeve like they’re doing us all a favor. That’s not dedication, that’s germ warfare.

And schools? When one kid goes down, it’s like dominoes. Teachers were running out of wipes, substitutes were being called in daily, and parents were juggling work and sick days with the grace of a circus act.

The truth is, we tend to forget just how disruptive a good old-fashioned flu season can be. It reminds us we’re not quite as invincible as we’d like to think. And while we’ve been busy keeping an eye on other viruses these past few years, the flu came strolling back in like, “Remember me?”

As for me, I hadn’t been sick in fourteen months and I was sort of proud of my record. But then I flew on an airplane to see my granddaughter for her second birthday, and the day after I returned home, well, I had caught a virus. It was a strange one too, starting out with a sore throat and ending up in my digestive tract. I would have questioned my senility if my daughter hadn’t had the same strange bug a month ago.

So here we are–April at last, and the bugs seem to be loosening their grip. Daffodils will soon be peeking out, we’ll be cracking our windows again, and the sound of coughing will finally fade from the aisles of Walgreens.

Let’s hope it stays that way. There is such a thing as summer colds.