Over the past week or so the right side and back of my throat have been sore. And not just sore. RIDICULOUSLY sore.

Honestly, it felt like someone had taken a knife and made a single, loooooong cut along its side.

I sucked my way through an entire bag of Ricola. I drank mug upon mug of pineapple juice. I even had lemon-ginger tea infused with cayenne, honey, and the juice of a whole lemon.

All powerful. But very unsuccessful.

Last night it occurred to me that perhaps I didn’t have a sore throat. Maybe it was something more.

I changed “sore” to “strep” in my search for “remedies”, and Googled away.

One site mentioned garlic. Another chamomile.

I scrawled both down, thinking I could last ’til morning.

I was wrong.

In the kitchen, I swirled one mashed garlic clove into a spoon of honey. “Oh man…” I sighed.

I braced myself to swallow it, but something inside urged me to take things up a notch.

I made myself a cup of chamomile, and added my garlic concoction.

This morning my throat felt so good, I thought I was dreaming.

Don’t be too quick to discount the obvious, folks. Ordinary items can yield extraordinary results. 😉