Who knew ginger ale cured all?

By Staff
Leada Gore, Editor
I heard a radio personality the other day say, even at age 40, he always felt the need to call his mother when he's sick. It just seemed she needed to know, he said.
I had to smile. It's long been a practice of mine to call my mother whenever I'm feeling under the weather. It's not really sympathy I'm looking for, but that certain type of medical advice only mothers can give.
That was the case earlier this week when I came down with what appeared to be a cold. I called my mother in Birmingham, using the excuse I needed to check on my sister's first week back at Auburn.
"She's fine," mother said. "How are you and Greg?"
That was my opening.
"We're sick," I replied. "We have a cold. He got it first and then gave it to me and I'm actually much sicker than he is."
The mothering instinct kicked in.
"Are you taking anything?" she said.
"No," I replied. "What should I take?"
And then my mother, who has been a nurse for more than 25 years, told me about a certain type of cold medicine she recommends. I went to the drugstore and called her again from my cell phone when I was inside, just to make sure I was getting the right thing.
I took the small tablets and immediately felt better. I got home and told Greg – who just so happens to be a nurse practitioner – that he should take them, too.
"They are what my mother recommended," I said with authority, convinced that motherly wisdom was worth more than prescription drugs.
He declined the medicine, opting for his fancy cold medicine recommended by, of all things, a doctor.
I think it's a natural thing to look to one's mother when you're ill.
After all, she's the one that made you all better when you had serious problems such as the mysterious first-grade tummy ache that kept you home from school.
In my house, my mother's cures were simple. If you had an upset stomach, you drank ginger ale.
Cuts and abrasions were treated with some sort of clear ointment with numerous assurances that the medication wouldn't burn. If you had a sore throat, you gargled with warm salt water. And, of course, ice cream cured a world of ills.
There must be something that happens to mothers when children are born, when, in an instant, they suddenly become blessed with medical knowledge about ginger ale and ice cream. The motherly remedies may not work every time, but they at least make you feel better for a while.
And they are a heck of a lot cheaper than medical school.