My life has been spared by three little gifts...

In truth, the blessings I have appreciated most, and counted as Godsends since last I posted have been:
1)  NyQuil
2)  Kleenex brand tissues
and
3)  Lunesta.

Without this 'trinity,' I would, even now, be curled up in bed (yet unable to sleep) and coughing my brains out.  But today, thanks to the 'three amigos,' I am up, dressed, well-rested, and breathing freely.  Heck, I even had energy to go up the street to our new local salon and get my hair colored!  (Thanksgiving is less than a week away, you know, and I needed to color the grays away.  I have to at least give off the illusion that I am pulled together at the big family gatherings...)  So let's make that four blessings.  The fourth being, hair coloring, of course.

Modern conveniences are such blessings!  Especially in times of sickness.  No wonder medieval folk died from illnesses like the flu!  One can hardly blame them for succumbing to death while suffering from congestion, fever and chills.

Their 'sick beds' were not made of memory foam.
They had no space heaters or thermal tech ski socks to be warmed by.
They had no lotion-coated tissues to sniffle into, nor hand sanitizer to sterilize themselves with after an especially goopy sneeze.

It surprises me not a bit that flu epidemics could wipe out thousands.  I probably would have been one of goners.  Especially if I had to sleep on straw, or go outside in the freezing November evenings to the outhouse that was - hopefully - positioned far enough away from my dwelling that I would not have to suffer the smell of it.  Although, in times of illness, such distant privy placement might have well been the cause of death for some.  Hence the invention of the bed pan, which, if you think about it, may have been the cause of death for others.    

Of course, people living in medieval times had it better than we do now, in some regards.  For example, they never had to deal with irritants like cell phone usage in restaurants, or a neighbor's leaf blower revving early on a Saturday morning.

Nor did they have to deal with their teenage sons spending every after school second on the Wii.

No, they would probably look at our time, shake their lice-ridden heads and say, "Keep your NyQuil and your sleeping pills.  At least we can refresh our straw mattresses every year."

This is all fine and good, Medieval Dwellers, but I would still choose my time over yours, and not just for the OTC cold and flu remedies available.

Keep warm, keep well,
Sylva