A Bit of Nostalgia

Thought I would do this early today before I forget what I wanted to write about.
Maybe it isn't good to be nostalgic. A sign of old age creeping up ? Regardless here goes:

The past few nights I have picked up on an old habit of leaving the radio on when I go to bed. I'm off work and my son is doing a night shift for a temp job, so I can indulge. I don't have it on too loud, it's background music, mostly classical.

This goes back to when I was a girl. I was a sickly kid, never got through a winter without a mega bout of pneumonia or bronchitis. My mother says she was always afraid I would stop breathing and she worried about me being alone in my room. Her solution was to prop me up on the couch with loads of pillows and blankets. She would rub a ton of Vick's Vapo Rub, on me and
then give me a stiff shot of brandy or creme de menthe. I remember the unusual liquor bottle . It was divided into 3 sections, one with white creme de menthe, one with green, and the other with brandy. Marie Brizzard, that was the brand. I don't think it's around anymore. I liked the white best because it tasted like a candy cane.
Miracle I'm not an alcoholic. What with her shoving me full of booze, the Italian relatives pushing homemade wine on me, and the French Canadian relatives letting me drink beer.
Well that's a topic for another day. I barely drink at all now. The last time being a couple of glasses of champagne at New Year's.

Back to my couch sick bed. Once I was all set up on the couch my mother would put music on her record player, one of her prized possessions. I'm sure if there had been a fire that's the one thing she would have saved. She had a set of LP's " Candle Light and Wine" all of it romantic classical music. So there I would be, wheezing, reeking of menthol and and alcohol, listening to Chopin and Rachmaninoff . I don't remember anything else, just falling asleep to the music.

Now I'm lazy,so instead of bothering with cd's or mp3's, I just listen to the classical station on the radio and I don't stink of home remedies ( they were good ) .

It was nice to wake up in the middle of the night and hear piano music instead of my dumb neighbour's barking dog.

Now it's time to get back to the present.