Medicine
For some reason, I was thinking about Chris Rock and his stand up comedy show called "Never Scared". It's hilarious!
He has this one segment where he talks about black folk taking Robitussin for any and every possible ailment. So, I thought to myself, I've never taken Robitussin and I don't remember my mom or my grandma ever having Robitussin in the house. I felt the urge to try it for myself. I bought some because I was feeling pretty sick and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It works okay I guess.
Then I started thinking back. My mom had the tendancy to stick with one brand once she found one she liked. That meant, we always ate Captain Crunch Cereal, we always used Close Up toothepaste and we always always drank RC Cola. So for illnesses, the medicine I remember most is the Goody's brand aspirin. My mom always said it was the best. I thought it was really nasty.
I don't recall my grandmother giving us any medication in particular. I remember she drank prune juice, butter milk and would eat beets out of a can. I guess she was pretty holistic without ever talking about it.
We did keep Vick's vapor rub in the house. I have some in the medicine cabinet right now. John saw me take a scoop of it and stick it up my nostrils one day. He looked at me in horror and said, "don't do that! you're not supposed to put it up your nose. You're supposed to rub it on your chest. My mom always rubbed it on our chest...."
I just ignored him and continued on sucking the Vicks through my nose. then I said, " It's not my chest that's congested, it's my sinuses...."
posted by CherylRenee @ 11:21 PM
2 Comments:
When I was a kid my mom put Vicks salve on our necks (throat) and then pinned a wool sock around our neck. I think the whole point was that no matter where you put it, (John's grandmother put it on the forehead, I think)head, neck or chest, the point was that you breathed in the vapors and that opened up the nasal passages. I only recently learned that some people use it on another part of the anatomy but I won't go into that here.
so you never put it up your nose? I guess I like instant relief.
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