Mother's Little Helper

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Too often we go to the doctor only to return home with a score of drugs. There seems to be a pill for every sort of ailment, and despite what are some nasty side effects, we chase them with a cup of coffee and forget about it.

I'm not a big pill taker. An aspirin here, a gout pill there, I'm a little apprehensive about taking my medicine. I know people who have up to 15 prescriptions. These are people in their 40's, mind you, and they wonder why they feel out of balance.

Go running to the shelter of the mother's little helper.

I hear Jagger singing it just perfectly.

Yet the pain in my right ankle was pretty sharp all day yesterday. It only truly hurts when I walk so its a good thing the Yanks were on last night. I was able to sit and ice it, but the hydrocodene was calling.

I took one and relaxed. And man, do I mean relaxed. A soft,comfortable haze overtook me as the kids played beside me. They were laughing, joking and making fun of the Yankees who spent most of the evening behind the hated Rays.

I remember considering that I understood the addiction behind such pills. I could clearly see why Big, Fat, Moron Rush Limbaugh was busted for his addiction.

It wasn't that I was buzzed or high or anything, but the pain was completely gone and I was absolutely relaxed.

The Yanks rallied, of course, but the excitement of it all was dulled by the pill. When Swisher and his friends were bouncing around in right field after the walk-off, I smiled comfortably. Oh, so comfortably.

Waking up this morning, I immediately thought of the ankle. I thought of it because it was throbbing, but I didn't race to the pill jar. In fact, I won't be visiting it at all today. We have a graduation party to attend. I don't want to be foggy as I pay tribute to my niece.

But I can see the problem. Pills in the wrong hands, taken for the wrong reasons, can really create havoc on the human mind and spirit.

Just ask the mother in the Stones brilliant song that was written about 40 years ago.

Mommy needs something today to calm her down.

Indeed.

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