• Mom was da balm •
[1 MIN READ]
When I was a kid, I was prone to muscle pain in my calves. The sensation of a nagging headache in my legs would keep me from falling asleep at night. The solution was to go to my parents’ bedroom and wake my mother. She would let me climb into the king-size bed between her and my father. She would rub my calves with her feet a few times before she fell back asleep. Then I would conk out, relieved. I did that until I was at least 11.
I was 52 when Mom was in hospice for pancreatic cancer. Dad had been gone for 7 years at that point, himself succumbed to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. She was renting her own home when I visited during what was to be her last month.
Muscle fatigue for me was a thing of the distant past, but I had gone for a run one day and managed to sprain my ankle badly. At the side of her bed, I told her about my run and the mishap that led to my sprain. “It’s no problem, I get these and manage fine.” Still, I got the Tiger Balm when she asked and put my foot up for her to reach. Then she started rubbing my leg.
FINE PRINT ¶Text: Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook 2025’07’25’F and (2) Life @ iCandybyWangC
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