So I've been sick with a cold all weekend which got me thinking about my childhood sick days. I didn't stay home sick very often as a child, but when I did it meant curling up on the couch with my favorite movies, chicken noodle soup, and a stack of library books. Of course, staying home sick meant watching an Anne of Green Gables marathon. Visiting with Anne, Diana, and Gilbert on Prince Edward Island always made me feel better. Now, I would watch this movie on days I wasn't sick too. But for me, Anne was the ultimate sick day movie. I'd watch both Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea. I finally caved and watched the third movie a few years ago, but I wouldn't recommend it (if you're a true Anne fan, it might make you sicker!)
If I couldn't watch Anne, then I spent my afternoon with Little Women-the Elizabeth Taylor movie version. This one didn't top my list, since Jo and Laurie do not end up together which is endlessly frustrating and not great when you're already not feeling well.
The other big deal in my house when we were sick (or had a day off school) meant we got to watch The Price is Right-if we weren't still asleep when it came on. My sister and I loved the Showcase Showdown and would sit through the rest of the show just for that. I always liked when they had a story or theme to them and when you're nine-years-old, winning a new car seems like the coolest thing in the world. We never understood why people would give up the cars.
And since my library was always at the library, being sick meant I got to stay home with my library books. I would read books from home, books from the library, anything I had. I don't remember having a specific book I read when I was sick, I would just read.
I still watch Anne and read when I'm not feeling well. I actually started Kate DiCamillo's The Magician's Elephant today and I think it'll make a great sick day read.
When you're not feeling well, what books or movies are your comfort, feel better things?
On sick days, I'm always up for some Harry Potter, which is good, because I own the DVD boxed set! :D
ReplyDeleteI love Anne of Green Gables too (and totally agree about the 3rd movie!). And a Pride and Prejudice marathon (the Colin Firth version, please!) always makes me feel better.
ReplyDeleteI love the Elizabeth Taylor version because of Margaret O'Brien!! She was the best child star. And Gilbert and Anne, sigh. When I am sick now I just get caught up on TV shows I've been missing and sleep. If I am going to be sick for more than one day it is a Supernatural marathon for me!
ReplyDeleteI'm usually a TV person when I'm ill. I love sleeping in. ALthough if it's night I love some Harry Potter.
ReplyDeleteI loved this post. I agree, that Anne is the go-to movie and book for a sick day! Love it. One of mine was "Fiddler on the Roof" - go figure - I guess mostly because it was long and had lots of good music, even it was a trifle depressing.
ReplyDeleteMy sick-day book when I was a kid was Julie Andrews Edwards' (aka Julie Andrews, famous actress) Mandy. There's a part in the book where Mandy gets really sick while out at her secret cottage, and nobody knows where she is, and she's rescued in the snow by the owner of the cottage (who secretly knew she was there the whole time). Then she has a long recovery period where she's in bed, so I always sympathized with that when I'm sick :)
ReplyDeleteI love Anne of Green Gables sososo much! Great choice for a feel better movie. I was a weird swashbuckling kid and generally spent my sick days with Errol Flynn. I loved his Robin Hood, Captain Blood, and the Seahawk! =)
ReplyDeleteI, too, go for Harry Potter movies when I'm sick. I have all of them so I can have a marathon, but I know them so well that it's no big deal if I drift off for awhile. Perfect for a sick day! I also like to watch my favorite stupid comedies, like Out Cold and Orange County, because they always make me laugh and feel better. I always read a lot when I'm sick, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd on a side note, I too hated that Jo and Laurie didn't get together! I never cared much for Little Women just because of that.
I'm wierd, but when I am sick, I love to rub vicks vaporub on my chest.
ReplyDeleteI love Anne of Green Gables so, so much, too. When it originally aired my family didn't yet have a VCR, so I taped it on a tape recorder. For a while I would listen to it while I fell asleep. (Um, that looks a little weirder in print than I thought it would.)
ReplyDeleteOn sick days I would usually gorge on whatever I was reading at the time, but I remember one particularly bad bout of strep throat as a child, during which I devoured The Chronicles of Prydain. I remember my mom going out specifically to get me The High King so I could finish it. The strep throat added a fever-induced feeling of urgency. Exciting!
My sick day viewing is either chick lit movies (like You've Got Mail or Pretty Woman) or favorite TV shows (Friends, How I Met Your Mother, The Office...). As far as reading, I don't tend to read when I'm sick, but when I'm super stressed out and just feeling down I turn to my childhood favorites Ramona Quimby and Anastasia Krupnik.
ReplyDeleteI'm about to start The Magician's Elephant too. I hope you get to feeling better!
ReplyDeleteThis may seem weird, but The Giver by Lois Lowry. It really reminds me of childhood since I read it when I was very young, and I can read it in one sitting, and it makes me feel so grateful to be alive. That book had a profound effect on my life.
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