Sick, and Tired of It

I suppose it's just a part of "maturing" but it's driving me nuts. When I was a kid and for most of my life I seldom got sick. Measles and chicken pox were no fun but I missed the mumps even though two of my sisters had them at the same time. I thought they looked pretty funny with their fat faces. I didn't think much about it until I was on my mission in Guatemala and holding this cute chubby-faced kid on my lap. I commented to his mom about how cute he was with his fat cheeks when she she said he was sick with something called "paperas." I had no idea what that word meant so I asked my companion and he said mumps. I all but threw the kid back to his mom and ran out the door. I had heard what happens when young men get mumps and they (the mumps) drop. I later saw it first hand when both Scott and Jer had exactly that happen when they were teenagers.

Anyway, I managed to have some kind of creeping crud stomach ailment over Christmas then again the following Monday and Tuesday. It was bad enough Tuesday that I missed going to Zinburger with the rest of the family here for Amy's birthday. They make the best burger I have ever put into my face. I was so sad to not be there. It was pathetic. I felt like I had spent the night in a concrete mixer with a load of river rock. My gas had gas. My eyeballs hurt.
The redeeming social value was that it didn't last long and I got to come home from work early.

I'm reminded of some of the home remedies my Mom would use. Vick's Vapo Rub was the absolute best part of having a cold. That stuff smeared on my chest in the winter was better than an electric blanket. My Mom kept a Vick's Inhaler with her all winter long. It was a plastic tube about the same size as a lip balm tube and had that eucalyptus smelling stuff inside it. She kept it in her cleavage where it stayed nice and warm and would all but knock me on my backside when she gave me a whiff of it.

Hot toddies weren't too bad either. They were some kind of mixture of lemon juice, water, whiskey, and who knows what else. They may or may not have had any medicinal qualities but they made us feel nice and warm and not care whether we were sick.