Bring on the Vicks

Today I am feeling a bit under the weather. It started as a vague nausea and body aches, so I tried to bite the bullet, bundled up and went for my hourly bike ride around town. The wind was not in  my favor, so I struggled to keep my usual pace and instead of ending the ride invigorated, I got off the bike and limped into the house. Every muscle and joint was complaining, my sinuses were stuffy and my only thought was getting up enough energy to take a bath and reach for the jar of Vicks Vapo Rub. Now I have to admit that I use a dab of that aromatic vaseline quite frequently, as the smell is a comfort left over from my childhood. On real sick days from the distant past, I would slowly walk down the stairs like a zombie and announce to my mom (in the most pathetic voice I could muster) "I'm sick." My mom was a nurse, which meant that you got some tough scrutiny before the OK was given to march back up to bed. " What hurts?", "did you do your homework?" and then" let me get the thermometer" would precede the decision. Staying home sick was not fun time in my house. The breakfast cure all was a poached egg with dry toast bits thrown in the soupy egg and mixed around... which was the perfect emetic if the flu was of the stomach variety. This was served with weak tea and lemon. The rule was, that if you stayed home from school, you had to lay in your bed in the quiet of your bedroom (no TV or toys) and rest during the entire school day. At lunchtime, my mom would bring up the Lipton chicken noodle soup, and would spend a few minutes stroking your head, maybe reading you a book, and if you had the "congestion flu" she would turn on the steam vaporizer, and dab a little Vicks under your red chapped runny nose to help you breathe. There was something about that long awaited together time with mom, that more than made up for the quiet morning spent staring at the ceiling. Usually by the end of the day, you were allowed to watch a little TV (but late afternoon is when your temperature would be at it's highest, and by then it was like watching a noisy blur). At bedtime, after another bowl of soup and maybe some ginger ale, mom again would take the temp, stroke your feverish forehead, dab the Vicks, and put on the vaporizer. There was something about that ritual that I miss when I'm not feeling quite right, and so I am often dabbing the cooling grease under my nose before bed... several times a week sometimes. It will cure a headache, open up sinuses, dull joint pain, and I'm convinced it will even smooth out the old lady mustache wrinkles that are starting to form above my top lip. But mostly, I think I use that pungent product to soothe me... as I remember my mom's cool hand stroking my head once did.