My son Alex and I had just left the grocery store and after putting the bags in the trunk we both got into the car and instantly reached for the hand sanitizer that I kept in the center console.
As we were both rubbing our hands together I couldn’t help but laugh. “I wonder when a study is going to come out that says using this stuff is actually really bad for you?”
Alex looked confused. “How could it be bad for you?”
“Well, we all seemed to be able to live without it until Covid showed up.” I wiped the excess off my hands and onto the steering wheel. “Now that we’ve been told to practically bath in this stuff I can’t believe it isn’t going to be a matter of time before someone comes out with a study that says using it is actually bad for us.”
I started up the car and began backing out of the parking space.
“Why would you think that?” Alex asked as he wiped the excess off on his pants.
“Because I’m old and I’ve lived through stupid decisions before.”
“What kind of stupid decisions?”
We were headed back home but were stopped at a red light when I looked over at him. “Well, lets see.” I tapped my pointer finger on my chin. “When I was a kid I remember a friend of my parents was told by her doctor to start smoking.” I looked over at Alex and raised my eyebrows. “The doctor said it would help calm her nerves after she had her son.”
“Seriously?” Alex looked confused.
I nodded my head. “When I was smoking age we were told smoking was a great appetite suppressant.”
Alex laughed. “You’re kidding me?”
I shook my head as I saw the light had turned green and I started driving again. “Nope. I’m not.” I looked over at him and smiled. “I have to say it really was a great appetite suppressant. Turns out it’s really bad for you but…” I shrugged my shoulders. “Who knew, right?”
“Unbelievable.” Alex said with a sigh.
“Hey, we were also told that you couldn’t go swimming for 30 minutes after you ate!” I laughed.
“Why? What was going to happen?”
“Oh, you were going to sink like a stone and drown.” We were at another red light and I looked over at Alex. “That was always the longest 30 minutes ever when I was a kid!”
“Why would anyone do that?”
“Because experts,” I made some air quotes with my fingers. “Told us to!”
Alex shook his head and laughed.
“Hey, my favorite one was every bottle of shampoo had directions that told you to lather, rinse and repeat!”
“What?” Alex shook his head. “They did not!”
“Now, even as a little girl I thought that one was stupid.” I was turning into our driveway. I put the car in park and shut off the ignition before looking over at Alex again. “I mean why wasn’t it cleaning you hair the first time you lathered up? Right?” We both got out of the car and went to the trunk to get the groceries.
Alex laughed. “That’s because the advertisers wanted you to use twice as much shampoo than you actually needed! That way you’d have to buy their shampoo more often!”
“Exactly!” I cried as I closed the trunk and we both headed up the sidewalk to the front door. “But back then we believed everything we were told.”
“That’s scary.” Alex said.
“Still is.” I said as my husband Steven opened the front door for us.
He took the bags out of my hands and turned to go into the house. “Hey, did you remember the hand sanitizer?” He asked over his shoulder. “We were running low.”
“Oh, it’s in there.” I said as I turned to Alex and wiggled my eyebrows up and down.
“Stop it.” Alex whispered. “You’re creeping me out.”
“It’s only a matter of time.” I whispered back as I walked into the house.
Slice of Life 