How A Cough Drop Made A Memory

Tuesdays I share a picture from our week that inspired me to write a post.

Our entire family went camping last weekend and during it two of my three children came down with a stuffed nose and a bad cough.

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Normally when my children get a stuffy nose I give them Maty’s all natural vapor rub to rub on their chests and within minutes their noses clear, but I had forgotten it at home, but I did have my favorite brand of cough drops.

I don’t remember exactly who introduced me to Fishermen’s Friend cough drops but I do remember thinking “oh my I don’t want one of those again”  yet oddly enough they soon became my preferred brand of cough drops and have remained my favorite brand for decades.

Why wasn’t I ever going to use the again? Because they taste awful

Why do I continue to use them decades after being introduced to them? Because they work better than any other cough drop I have ever tried and they don’t have any added junk in them. Seriously these are amazing cough drops.

Up until this weekend I have never shared my love of Fishermen’s Friend cough drops with my children because I was sure I would never get my picky eating children to finish an entire Fishermen’s Friend.

So why did I introduce my kids to Fishermen’s Friend this weekend ? It is hard  IMPOSSIBLE to fall asleep to the sound of 2 snot snorting coughing teens when they are all laying within feet of you in a camping trailer.

I was desperate, so I gave them each one with the warning “spit them out and there will be consequences”. I am not sure what those consequences were going to be but it was well past midnight and I was beyond tired. I guess the look of a  raging sleep deprived mom is enough to convince even the picky eaters to keep a foul tasting cough drop in their mouths because they did without asking what the consequence was.

Neither child spit it out, and trust me I could tell by the complaining that went on for the few minutes it took them to finish them. From “oh my word I have never tasted anything this foul” to “mom my eyes are watering” to my favorite “are you poisoning us?” and then silence as both of them fell into slumber with clear nasal passages and no more coughing.

Here is where the memory making part comes in, for the rest of the weekend it became the family joke whenever someone sniffed or coughed to say “want a Fishermen’s Friend” “hey mom……..needs a Fishermen’s Friend”, “don’t cough too hard or mom will force you to ingest a Fishermen’s Friend”.

They were laughing so hard about my late evening Fishermen Friend rant that the camper shook from it. I am sure surrounding campers thought our family was crazy as  two of our children ran screaming from our third child who was holding up the bag of remaining Fishermens Friends and waving it in the air like a mad man.

As I sat back watching my children chase after each other with cough drops I was reminded  of two things. One  it doesn’t have to cost a lot to build memories.Two,  I am blessed to have kids who can not only forgive me for my mommy rants but also turn them into funny memories.

Now where are my Fishermen Friends, I think I just heard my 12 year old sniffle.