Moby- Dick

It was bound to happen sooner or later. A rip roaring head cold! My throat hurts, my chest feels like it has a Brillo Pad in it, aches and pains abound and my sinuses are leaking without permission. A cold is not cured, you have to wait while the bloody virus works itself though your system. You can treat the symptoms and this is what I do.
1. Plenty of fluids. Water, juice, tea are all good but a cold needs something special so here is my recipe. Take fresh ginger root and slice about one inch of it into paper thin slices and pour hot water on it and let it steep until the water is luke-warm. Strain the liquid and put it in a pitcher. This ginger juice is the base of my drink. Fill a mug with half of the ginger juice, add a teaspoon of honey, 1 oz. of fresh citrus juice and a shot of brandy. Heat in the microwave for 20 seconds. Since I don't have any citrus in the house or any brandy for that matter I have cheerfully made the substitution of Passion Fruit elixir and dark Jamaican rum.
2. Plenty of rest. The guest bedroom upstairs is the warmest spot in the house. I have piled about a half dozen quilts, pillows, shawls and throws on the bed. I have also retrieved the heating pad from the drawer and have it warming the bottom of the bed. For ultimate comfort though I think a hot water bottle sloshing around under the covers is better.
3. Treat the symptoms. This depends on the symptoms. Tissues work well to mop up the runny nose and I put chap stick on under the nose to keep the tissues from leaving tissue burn. Vick's Vapor rub works well on the chest and I have snitched a few hankies from my husband's drawer to keep the grease off my clothes. Aspirin and Tylenol are good for the aches and pains but I much prefer my special drink. The honey eases the pains in the throat, the brandy takes care of the aches and pains and coughing jags, the juice adds some vitamin C that is supposed to help with healing.
4. Relaxation. This is the hard part. Over the years I have found my own solution: Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. I always start at the beginning, Chapter 1. There is something very comforting about the first sentence, "Call me Ishmael." And so I start to read how Ishmael is all depressed and has decided to go to sea. He is smart about the process. "... I always go to sea as a sailor, because they make a point of paying me for my trouble, whereas they never pay a passenger a single penny...."

So now I am going to bury myself in the warm covers, drink my special drink and read about my buddy Ishmael, and let this cold run its course.