#for the entire duration of her childhood she never saw a licensed dr.

[chucktaylorupset]

For as long as I could remember, whenever I was in pain, whether from a cut or a toothache, Mother would make a tincture of lobelia and skullcap. It had never lessened the pain, not one degree. Because of this, I can come to respect pain, even revere it, as necessary and untouchable. Twenty minutes after I swallowed the red pills, the earache was gone. I couldn't comprehend its absence. I spent the afternoon swinging my head from left to right, trying to jog the pain loose again. I thought if I could shout loudly enough, or move quickly enough, perhaps the earache would return and I would know the medicine had been a sham after all. Charles watched in silence, but he must have found my behavior absurd, especially when I began to pull on my ear, which still ached dully, so I could test the limits of this strange witchcraft.

From Educated by Tara Westover

terribly charmed by my sibling sending me a voice message that just said “i just always take ibuprofen at the wrong time. i had a headache all afternoon, from three to eight pm and then i took an ibuprofen half an hour before the headache went away! i could have just saved an ibuprofen!”

[cherryblossomshadow]

#my post now #if ur curious to know more #tara westover was raised and homeschooled by homeopathic mormons on the side of a mountain #for the entire duration of her childhood she never saw a licensed dr. #educated is her memoir. the technical perfection of the prose alone is enough to make you weep and i cannot in good conscience #recommend it carte blanche #growing up with just your family who have a paranoid fear of institutional authority and no oversight is a foundation for rampant abuse #not to mention the multiple instances of severe physical trauma with no medical care #it is a very very good book but you should very much stop to consider if youre a person who can read it #like none of this came for me where i lived and i was still sobbing through the chapters #i don't want to oversell the downsides though this book is really really good #oh and the quote is from pg 183 of the hardback. Ch 21. 'Skullcap' (tags courtesy of @chucktaylorupset)

terribly charmed by my sibling sending me a voice message that just said “i just always take ibuprofen at the wrong time. i had a headache all afternoon, from three to eight pm and then i took an ibuprofen half an hour before the headache went away! i could have just saved an ibuprofen!”