Mother’s column: Thankfulness as vitamin

When we had to quarantine the day before my birthday, it did not take long before the postman showed up on our doorstep with an extensive collection of pills. It was the first time in my life that I got cod liver oil for my birthday. And vitamin C, and zinc, and vitamin D, and quercetin. When you’re breastfeeding, you have to be careful with zinc, so I’d rather not risk taking the balanced orthomolecular recipe. However, some extra vitamins C and D probably would not hurt.

Still, I got sick. After a few days of feeling lame, the meal suddenly tasted suspiciously bland. Was this the infamous loss of smell and taste? To put it to the test, I put my nose in the peanut butter jar. Evidence provided: I smelled nothing at all.

The Dutch Neline is married and mother of Martha (8), Abel (6), Jolijn (4) Reinout (2) and Sifra (0).

It has its advantages. For example, I happily used a shampoo that I thought smelled a bit, and I changed the dirtiest diapers while whistling. But when my daughter Jolijn walked in a dog turd, it took a long time before I smelled any danger. By this time, she had already busted all over the house. Great.

The loss of taste is annoying. I am not hungry because of corona anyway. That does not get any better when the food does not taste like anything. Suddenly an old holiday memory comes back to mind. We are in England sitting at a table with a lady we met in church. Remarkably, she gives thanks for the food and the taste buds God has given us to enjoy it. “If you can’t taste anything because of illness or old age, eating becomes a chore,” she explains after the prayer. “Therefore, it is good to thank the Lord for your taste.” It’s nice when you think like that; I remember thinking. However, the times I thanked God for my taste buds can be counted on one hand.

Since then, we have all recovered from corona, and I also have my smell and taste back. And we all think it is very normal again. “We are chronically deficient in vitamin D,” says the pastor in his Thanksgiving sermon. He is referring to vitamin Dankbaarheid (Gratitude). And he is terribly right.

This article was translated by CNE.news and was previously published in Dutch magazine Terdege.