Get well kit

It was a couple weeks ago I got up like normal and felt fine. I had my usual first two coffees just like normal. Marge was still sleeping in, so I went for the four-wheeler and drove around checking on our calves and the water. No big deal. I drove up in front of our house and was heading to the house and got sick. No warning whatsoever. I just don't chuck a couple cups of coffee very often. I told Marge I'll bet it's been all of 20 or 30 years since this happened. Maybe more. I can't remember when to be honest. So Marge asked me what I wanted for breakfast. The only thing that sounded good was chicken noodle soup. Plain Jane Campbell's chicken noodle soup. I was good to go 24 hours later, so who knows what I had.

But isn't that the standard get well "food" when we have an upset stomach? Plain chicken noodle soup. Back when we were pastoring, Goldia Collier would make some homemade chicken noodle soup and get it to us when Marge or I or the boys were sick. I almost hate to say it, but her homemade chicken soup was almost worth getting sick just to get it. Not really, but it was mighty fine. So the first item I'd have in a "Get Well Home Kit" is several cans of chicken noodle soup. And right along with the chicken soup would be some plain soda crackers.

Another staple Marge and I grew up with was Vicks VapoRub. Mom was a firm believer in rubbing it on your chest and back and around your neck and under your nose. And just to make sure you got better, we had to eat a dab as well. Then she'd wrap an old hanky around our neck, and we'd put on a tee shirt and go to bed. She'd cover us up with an old fashioned quilt that weighed 20 or 30 pounds. Later on we got electric blankets. Our boys grew up getting smeared with Vicks, but they didn't eat it. So Vicks VapoRub would go in the kit.

Another must have is some 7UP or Sprite. Nothing sounds good, but a cup of 7UP seems to go down pretty nice. It might have to be warm or then maybe even cold. It all depends on your stomach. I'd shy away from milk products though because they are supposed to upset your stomach. But then growing up Mom would make warm milk toast, and that tasted pretty good. I've heard of milk-soaked corn bread in the South where we live.

Back growing up, Alka-Seltzer was something to rely on when you had an upset stomach. Dad liked to take a quarter cup of warm water, add some baking soda and a couple aspirins and let the aspirins dissolve. Then down the hatch. Or maybe a swig of Pepto Bismol. Mom always used a spoon, but I'd normally just take a swig. I always liked the taste. I think I'd have a bottle of Pepto Bismol in my kit.

For a sore throat, there was this spray we used. You'd pray it back on your tonsils and your whole mouth was numb. Dad had a concoction for a sore throat. He'd take a big tablespoon of heaping sugar, pour Old Crow over the sugar and then we'd try and get it down. Burn and gag doesn't describe it. But Mom would take a little warm water, add some lemon, add some honey and then some Old Crow. Now this was pretty good. I'm not sure about this going in the kit. Dad probably had the same bottle for 20 years. His Old Crow was medicine.

Dad also had a bottle of Absorbine Veterinary Horse Liniment on hand. It was meant for horses, but Dad used it on everyone. This was for sore muscles or cracks between ones toes or just hurts anywhere. I used to have cracks between my toes, so I'd pour a little absorbine on them. Boy, oh boy, it would light you up. It works.