Feed a Fever, Drown a Cold

"A cold treated with vitamin C, over-the-counter medicines, chicken soup, home remedies or any combination thereof will last seven days. Untreated, it will last a week." -- Anonymous

"Feed a fever, drown a cold." -- Laurie Rozakis

Despite minimal contact with the outside world over the New Year's weekend, I managed to catch a cold somewhere. Actually, we've narrowed it down to either someone in the Post Office, where I stood on line for about half an hour, or someone's germs on the touch-screen at the ATM at the bank. In any case, I've got an occasionally runny nose and a cough, which are being nicely handled by a decongestant and cough drops.

Laurie's philosophy, as noted above, has always been to treat a cold with plenty of fluids. Last night she added a pot of chicken soup to dinner and had a second pot ready for later in the evening. She also had homemade lemonade and orange slices. And if I had asked, she would have made me a gallon of tea as well.

Well, if the cold germs are just hanging around in my body, they have to be pretty strong to avoid being washed away by the torrent of liquid that passes through. And pass through it does, because, as you are well aware, what goes in must come out. This may be the only occasion that I appreciate the frequency and length of commercial breaks during TV programs.... and the pause button on the DVD player!

You'll forgive me for not writing more on this topic. I had, of course, chicken soup for lunch (along with cups of coffee and tea this morning)... and, well, you get the idea...