By Delynda Pilon

There is a cold going around, which of course means I get to cough, sneeze and feel generally miserable for a week or so. After commiserating with a co-worker who was also suffering with a nasty cough, I learned that she had bronchitis a lot as a kid, but she didn’t mind because a bad cold meant coddling and ice cream in her family.

I told her when I was a kid, I was afraid to cough - especially around my Grandma French.

Grandma was an awesome woman, one of the world’s true ladies. She grew up during the depression and she could look into a cupboard anyone else would describe as bare and come up with a delicious meal.

She also strongly believed in home remedies.

When I was a kid, it seemed I caught every cold around (nope, things haven’t changed much). Grandma would hear me cough, then get to work in the kitchen, mixing several nasty ingredients into what she described as a cough syrup.

Thank goodness she never tried to market it. It made Buckley’s taste good.

She began with onions, mustard, garlic and apple cider vinegar. I remember looking on with horror as the concoction brewed, stifling whatever cough was attempting to erupt from my chest. I’d take shallow breaths, hold my breath and sometimes turn red in the face trying to suppress that cough. I never did get out of having to take a couple of spoon fulls of that ‘medicine’ though.

The next day mom would inevitably get a call from Grandma inquiring after my health.Me: (Pleading) I’m great. Tell her I’m great.

Grandma: (Knowingly) See. The medicine worked.

If that wasn’t bad enough, some of Grandma’s beliefs in home remedies were passed down to my mom. Though she didn’t know how to make the dreaded cough syrup, she did believe that every time you got a cold you should slather menthol rub on an old sock and pin it around your neck.

In case you are wondering, old socks don’t feel comfortable when pinned around the neck. I can absolutely attest to this fact. They did not make me fee better. Actually, they made me feel ridiculous and also a little grossed out. My co-worker asked me why it had to be an old sock. To this day I don’t have an answer for that one.

That kind of reminds me of the time I had pink eye, and a friend took off her wedding ring and told me to rub it on the infected area because the gold made pink eye better. I did it, but I still had pink eye the next day. You know what? So did my friend.

Anyway, I learned at a very young age to mistrust home remedies, and though I miss Grandma French dearly, I definitely do not miss that cold syrup.