Appropriate medicine

Appropriate medicine
I have many memories of being sick as a child. I remember lying on the couch watching movies with our rented VCR and putting sympathy stickers given to me by my older sisters in my sticker book. I remember stopping by the meat market to buy a BBQ burger and bag of Cheetos before heading home to my sickbed, a spot on the living room couch. I have some vivid memories of being cooped up for days at a time.
From pneumonia to the shingles to the flu, I wasn’t one to win the perfect attendance awards handed out at the end of the year. In contrast, my best friend M, seldom missed school. When she came down with something, strep throat was the usual culprit, she was whisked off to the doctor, started on a round of antibiotics, and then returned to school later that day or the next at the latest. Even today, when M or her children get sick she follows her usual protocol, a quick visit to the doctor, the appropriate medicine and all is well.
The difference in our getting-well-routines no doubt had something to do with the fact that M’s mother worked outside the home whereas my mother was a stay-at-home mom. Of course, I now understand how difficult it is to take off days, not to mention weeks, at a time to take care of a sick child. My mother had the luxury of letting my body heal itself, when it would comply, because she didn’t have to use up precious sick days.