How sick WAS done

When I was little and my mom was alive, being sick meant eating Cheerios out of a bowl, dry. Eating saltines my mom would put grape jelly on. When you were sick you got this special washcloth to put on your head. Something special always happened. Once my mom painted a different color on each of my toes. You know how there's always that day or two where you feel well enough to be restless and bored of being home sick but not well enough to actually do anything? My mother would get us a sheet of stickers or a fancy coloring book or something.

Once when I was sick, my mom taught me to write in script. Another time she helped me take scraps of fabric and we made doll clothing for my dolls. When Danielle got sick one time my mother got her a character nightgown that she'd wanted for a couple of months.

When she had to really work, our nana would come up to fuss over us. She would make the soup, fuss at us to drink liquids, make us grape juice ice pops. I feel like there was more but I don't know how to explain. You know when stuff is hard and someone cups your face in their hand and you lean in? That's what my nana and mom did when we were sick. Made us feel like that.

Topher never took care of us when we were sick. Or healthy. My mother had this big thing about how we were HER responsibility and HER children and it was not our job to be little parents. So Topher would sneak us donuts and get us all riled up so we were laughing instead of resting.

I can't remember why but once Topher was left to babysit me while I was sick. My mother paid him so he would take it seriously. He taught me that you can drink Robitussen out of the bottle and then wouldn't have to dirty a spoon. The next day my mother saw me drinking out of the bottle and flipped out. Topher was never allowed to babysit when we were sick again and had to give back the money. My mom was really furious.

I drink out of the bottle now.