Newsletter – August 20, 2025
My mom poured the medicine into the spoon and put it in my brother’s mouth, then she crossed the room, poured out another spoonful and put the same spoon in my mouth.
That’s how I got the mumps when I was four years old.
A few days ago my doctor was reviewing my vaccinations and I told her the story of how I got the mumps. Mom gave it to me. And it was intentional.
It happened in Germany when my Dad had the opportunity to work with a world renowned chemist and scheduled his first sabbatical leave to take advantage of the offer. Mom loved to travel and fully embraced the experience. Bringing along two boys under six? No problem!
When I say “world renowned chemist” I’m not kidding. Dr. Eigen would be awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry a couple of years after we came back to the States.
The family spent a total of nine months living in Germany—I should say West Germany, before the reunification of the two Germanys.
My brother and I each had a birthday during that time, his sixth, my fourth. We celebrated Christmas in that little German house and Dad laid the track for an electric train to circle the tree. On Christmas morning a toy bunny peeked out of my stocking and I played with him all day.
In the spring it was time to get ready for the return trip and my Dad came down with the mumps. My only memory of that was the doctor coming to give Dad a shot in his bare behind. I felt sorry for him but better him than me!
A couple weeks closer to our departure date and Dad was feeling better but my older brother came down with a case of the mumps.
The vaccine hadn’t been invented yet and we wouldn’t be welcome to travel while infectious. If it took that long to reach to my brother, would it take that long before I got it? Time to consult the doctor.
My mother had earned a degree with majors in Chemistry and Biology and she knew the doctor was right: she had to infect me sooner than later. Still, she felt guilty about putting that spoon in my mouth. It went against all of her motherly instincts.
It was a classic textbook example of vaccination by exposure. I came down with a very mild case of the mumps from which I recovered quickly and we were all cleared to travel home.
Mom? Oh, she never got sick. Ever. I couldn’t tell you why, she just had a robust immune system. At her funeral I thanked her for passing that gift along to me and my brothers.
And Bunny? Yeah, he came home with me, went to college with me, grad school, too. Everywhere, in fact. He sits on my bookshelf now, his pink ears smudged, his whiskers bent, and his red ribbon bow now faded, but seeing him still makes me smile. I’ll put a picture of him below.
TTFN
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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles
Eric Margerum 