We write many things in our family stories and memoir pieces, both happy and sad. Have you ever included what your mother did for you when you had a bad cold or the flu or some childhood disease like measles, mumps, or chickenpox? Or an injury?
Our family stories serve as a history of our family as well as being informative and entertaining. Think back to your growing-up years. We all had an illness of some kind now and then. Write about the methods your mom used to help you feel better. Those of us who are senior citizens didn't have the benefit of all the miracle anti-biotics out today.
Did your mom have any special treatments? Was there always a bottle of mercurochrome in the medicine cabinet? Campophenique? Calamine lotion? Vicks Vaporub? Did she make some awful concoction that smelled bad and tasted worse?
When my brothers and I had a cold, my mother made us take a warm bath, then rubbed Vicks on our chests, covered it with a piece of flannel under our pajama top. "Hurry up and get in bed and pull the covers up," she'd say. The idea being that heat would make the Vicks work better and help to loosen the congestion in our chest.
And yes, we had a bottle of mercurochrome on hand at all times. Any scrape or cut was washed with soap, then painted with the evil red liquid. Every kid in the neighborhood sported a blotch of red on a knee or elbow now and then.
My dad's sure cure for a crying, teething baby was to rub a bit of whiskey on the gums. It worked, but today, he'd probably have been arrested for child abuse.
Include pieces in your Family Stories book about the times you were very sick and what your mother did to make you feel better. Whenever I was sick enough to stay in bed, my mother came to the bedroom about mid-afternoon with a warm, wet washcloth. She'd wipe my face and hands and then brush my hair a bit. Not medicine but it always made me feel better for a little while.
Many of us were given a bowl of good, hot chicken soup. "This will cure what ails you." That was the statement that often accompanied the soup.
What did your mother do when you were sick? How were you treated? With home remedies or over the counter drugstore meds? Did she call a doctor, or was she the doctor of choice in your family?
The one time a doctor made a house call for me as a child frightened me more than the medical problem I had--a severe mastoiditis in my ears. Why? Because my mom never, ever called a doctor to come to our house. I was sure I must be dying. Only that event would have moved her to spend the money on a housecall.
Spend some time remembering those times when you had measles or mumps or a bad cut or a terrible cold. Then, write about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment