Anyone who knows me even a little knows that I have a pretty rubbish immune system. I’ve blogged about being sick before. Bascially, winter has felt like one long plague season and I have largely forgotten what it’s like to wake up in the morning and feel well. 

When I was a kid there was one rule whenever I felt unwell. That rule stipulated that the only thing that could possibly make me feel better was watching The Care Bears Movie. If you don’t know it, it’s a fairly terrible animated movie from 1985 in which the Care Bears befriend some lonely orphans and help a magician’s assistant break away from the spell of an evil spirit. Mickey Rooney does one of the voices. The Care Bears use their Rainbow Rescue Beam and discover the Care Bear Cousins. Carole King sings the theme song. Care-a-Lot is a place we all can go, you guys. If you don’t know where it is, look inside your heart.

Seriously – it’s vomitous.

I’m not sure exactly what restorative powers I imagined the movie possessed, especially given the sheer force of its rot-your-teeth-while-you-watch sweetness. The very mention of the movie these days I am sure causes my mother an involuntary eye twitch from many a night spent with a sick child and the movie on an apparently endless loop (Hi Ma! I’m feeling much better, no need to bring soup x). But I stood by my own questionable medical remedy for years and it’s entirely possible that The Care Bears Movie is burned into my memory in a way no other movie will be.

Yes. I still have a Care Bear. (For my health).

This winter, as I negotiate my wellspring of immunity failings, I can think of nothing I rely on with such determination as a sick adult except medically sound though wholly uninteresting things like paracetamol, vitamin C, and aloe vera tissues. And though I worry it may make cynical, adult me want to stab my own eyes out with my Vicks inhaler, I am very tempted to track down a copy of The Care Bears Movie in readiness for next time, just in case.

‘Til next time,