Beating the cold

I admit it.  As much as I try not to get sick at any time, I especially try not to do so in the winter.  Supplements have been my mainstay for several months.  I take 2000 IUs of Vitamin D, a multivitamin with iron, and 500 mg of Magnesium citrate per day.  And I've not been sick very often.


But it happens sometimes.  So when it does, I tend to do things that make me feel comforted, even human.  The parts of the body that still work take care of the parts that don't.  Like today - I had myself a couple of bowls of soup and a few crackers, then went to bed with a heating pad to try to get rid of the bone-deep chill I felt.  I even got a little sleep - albeit broken by the banes of my indoor "at-home" existence: telemarketers and my daughter's cat.

The chill, however, has decided to return. So I am wearing my scarf, and have a couple of big fluffy towels lying across my shoulders and my legs as I type.  

In my mind I have a picture-memory of a time when I was about 13.  It was the dead of winter. Our house was not all that well insulated so we compensated with lots of blankets and quilts. And when we got up in the morning, we made sure to put our socks on before our feet touched the floor.  It was COLD.

We had an oil stove in the kitchen.  Mom would make the fire in the oil stove before we got up, and once the heat was up a bit, she opened the oven door, spread out a newspaper on the open oven door and pulled a couple of chairs up beside it.  My brother and I would come into the kitchen wearing our sweaters or long-sleeved shirts, jeans and thick socks, grab a cup of tea, and sit on the chairs with our sock feet resting on the newspaper - to warm our feet.

It was the closest thing to a fireplace we were going to get.  But the heat soaked into us and made the howling wind outside not seem so loud or forbidding.

Only 30 minutes later, I would have to go to the bus stop and shiver in the cold, but the memory of that warm spot in the morning helped get me through the dark, frigid days of winter.  

I can't ever remember LIKING winter.  I like it less and less as I get older; but, the memories associated with beating the cold really stick with me.  I remember one time sitting in the apartment of another brother once - I would have been about 19 or so - he had a fireplace. He put on some soft music; there was always music at his place. My fiancé and I sat on the hearth in front of the little fireplace with our cups of hot chocolate and watched the fire together as the music played.  It was cozy.  It was romantic.  

Why am I talking about this?  I guess it's to beat the cold.  To remember warmer times.  To remind myself that sickness - and winter - doesn't last forever. 

I think I feel a little warmer now.