Personal Memoir

When we were small, my brother and I were sick all the time. Fortunately, it was nothing so serious that we were hospitalized, nor did our family have to significantly alter its lifestyle. Still, it seemed that we were constantly congested, with wheezy coughing fits and runny noses.

Our mother was not a person who panicked. She did not rush us to the doctor, even if one or both of us had such severe nasal congestion that we complained "I can't eben breathe outta by dose." We had elaborate bedtime rituals of Vick's vapor rub being massaged into our chests. Our mother boiled pots of water and we took turns breathing the steam, tented under big bath towels.

Our mother believed that diet played a crucial role in good health. My brother, two years younger than me, wasn't in school when I was in first grade and had...
[ View Full Essay]