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My mother could juggle more jobs than a circus performer. She cooked, cleaned, handled the books and taxes for the family business, and stayed active in our church. She also served as the household’s resident physician.

She treated countless childhood scrapes, including the wounds from a bicycle skid that left scars on both my knees. One cut was packed with cinders, which she patiently removed with tweezers before applying a bandage.

A recent Facebook post on my hometown’s page joked that old-school mothers would treat even a severed arm with Mercurochrome and send the child back outside. The exaggeration made me laugh because it captured the era perfectly.

I dreaded Mercurochrome and its little glass applicator. The sight of it made me retreat before the stinging medicine ever touched my skin. Its color and smell were no better. Once the treatment was finished, Mom added a Band-Aid and returned me to play like a boxer being sent into another round.

Colds brought another familiar routine. She put me to bed, rubbed Vicks VapoRub across my chest and even placed some inside my nose. For an earache, she used an eyedropper to add warm oil, then asked my father to blow cigarette smoke into the aching ear. A cotton ball completed the procedure.

My father handled warts. He began by teasing me about touching too many toads, then demanded silence as he passed his hand over the affected spot. Afterward, he covered the wart with a Band-Aid. Within days, it would disappear. Somehow, his “charm” seemed to work.

Mom was also the family’s splinter specialist, a role that kept her busy because I attracted splinters constantly. She kept a needle and alcohol ready, then dug into my skin with the determination of a gold miner. I supplied the dramatic screams. She finished with another Band-Aid and declared the problem solved.

All three of us old-school children reached adulthood with no deformities and only a few scars. Our exhausted parents barely survived the experience, though they certainly used enough Band-Aids to justify owning stock in Johnson & Johnson.