by Donna Swagerty Shreve
Fortunately illness in my childhood was not common. The four of us kids, however, did go through the litany of childhood diseases. I remember our neighbors gave their children many vitamins and my mother was convinced we had much fewer illnesses in our house with her balanced meals and lack of pill pushing.
My earliest memory of an illness was when my brother was born. I was three years older and I became ill with quite an upset stomach. My parents were convinced I was jealous of the new baby and trying to get some attention. When they discovered the empty pickle jar and half empty vinegar bottle, they discovered the source of my illness.
My mother had a much older father who raised her brother and her by himself. He did approve of doctors and had some strange “old fashion” cures that he was given as a child. Mom got her spring tonic every Spring which was basically castor oil that was enough to clean out any stubborn colon. Mom had to wear long wool underwear all winter and way into spring. She shared some of her ways around some of his father’s ideas. She knew it was silly but she also put camphor phenique on all of our wounds saying it would fix most anything. That cure did not live on to our children.
As children growing up, we were never allowed sodas or other items that mother deemed junk food. One rare treat was a whole can of 7 up if we were ever sick enough to throw up. That rare soda can was cold and fresh at first but inevitably went warm and stale before it was consumed. For some reason I felt I had to finish the whole soda. This was either because the left over would be thrown out as contaminated or I felt compelled to out of habit. To this day I do not enjoy a soda as it renders past memories of only drinking soda when I was ill.
Plain jello would follow the 7 Up as a rare treat. It was prepared plain and was just for sick children. Any left overs were mixed with canned fruit for the rest of the family.
A special drink stands out as a treat to this day and that is a hot toddy. I
inherited horrible menstrual cramps from my mother and Dad was well aware of the affliction. I was living at home my last year of college and had retired to my room to suffer alone. There was a knock at my door and in came Dad with his home made cure. My mother did most of the nursing and having my Dad attend to me was a special event.
He presented me with the hot toddy and somehow it really hit the spot. The warm whiskey relaxed me and I was able to sleep away my misery.
I have carried on some of the various childhood family remedies with my sons and it has been interesting to watch my two sons administer to themselves and others with a bit of our family culture of home cures.
527 words
2018
Swagerty-Aldrich Family Web Site 