Going to Grandma's When I Was Sick

A Time I Can't Recapture

I’ve been under the weather for the last few days, and it’s not pleasant. From the runny nose to the scratchy throat, and the headaches to the constant flip flopping between being hot and cold, it’s just a rotten experience to be sick. As bad as it is for me, I can’t imagine how hard it’s been on my wife having to put up with me in this state.

I tried finding relief in numerous ways, but nothing was doing the trick. Then a thought came to mind (or maybe it was my wife’s idea), that if I’m going to be sick, I should at least try and recapture some of the magic that came along with being sick when I was a kid.

While those times were never fun, they did offer up a few gems of enjoyment as most of us got to do a few things we wouldn’t normally. Like lay on the couch and watch The Price is Right and Press Your Luck game shows. Or play Nintendo while all of your friends were stuck in Mrs. Pruitt’s math class. So in my weakened state, I tried to recapture those feelings in an attempt to feel better.

I fired up Pluto TV and went to the game show channel. I quickly lost interest in that though. Then I pulled out the Nintendo Switch and played a few levels of Super Mario World. That too ended quickly, and I was right back to being a grumpy patient.

I think that those things didn’t hold my attention that long these days because it’s all been so accessible to us for so long now. Back in the day, we only got to see The Price is Right during the summer or during a sick day at home. And I’ve played video games my whole life, so there’s nothing special about that anymore.

In my grumpy, depressed, bored, and ill state, I started longing for the things I used to enjoy during sick days that are even harder to replicate now. Sometimes when I was a kid and was sick, I would get to go stay at my grandmas house for the day.

Now in those days, we didn’t have cable TV at home, but my grandparents did. So I knew right away that I would get to watch Mr. Wizard’s World and The Mysterious Cities of Gold on Nickelodeon. And I could watch reruns of shows that I never got to see like The Brady Bunch and Bewitched on TBS. To me, that was better than The Price is Right.

Now while I could have tried to replicate that this week, it was the other things about staying at Grandma’s that is harder to reproduce. Like being fed the steaming hot bowl of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup and Zesta saltine crackers for lunch. With Tropicana orange juice from the glass jug to drink, and a metal can of Del Monte Chocolate pudding for dessert. That’s right, a metal can.

Back before plastic became all the rage in the world of single-serve puddings, they all came in little metal cans. And they were heavenly that way. When you were sick and staying at Grandma’s, you got a can with lunch, and then a second can a little later on “just because”.

These days I can’t replicate the magic cure all that was chocolate pudding in a metal can and orange juice from a glass jug. I firmly believe that if we had that combo still around a few years ago, we would have kicked Covid’s butt and it wouldn’t even have become a thing.

I say all of that to say this. Being sick as an adult really stinks. There is no Grandma’s house to go to, and there is no glass jugs of juice nor metal cans of pudding to find comfort in. But at least we have the memories, and they’re good ones.