After My Neighbor Reported My Mom for Unlicensed Practice, the Flu Came

Delia Finch, my neighbor and a medical school graduate, reported my mother for practicing without a license.

The county health department finished its inspection and, given that my mother had never charged a fee and had never once caused a medical dispute,

let her off with a verbal warning. Then they burned decades of proper, honestly gathered herbs my family had built up, and they sealed our herbal shop.

My mother cried until her eyes swelled shut.

"Back when her mother nearly died in labor, if I hadn't used an old remedy to save her, neither mother nor daughter would be alive today."