Is the germ fatigue getting to you?

Is the germ fatigue getting to you?
                        

Things don’t always stay in order at our house, so the other day Joe calls out from the bathroom, “Which toothbrush is mine?”

“Does it really matter,” I replied as my mind immediately flashed back to a time just before Joe and I were married. We took a class through the church to make sure we were compatible and knew what we were getting into.

(Note from experience: When it comes to marriage, you never know what you are getting into, and nothing can prepare you.)

Each couple planning to marry was paired up with a married couple to assist them on this Marriage 101 classroom journey that took place over six weeks. We were paired up with Chuck and Pat.

That has been a really long time ago. I don’t remember much about what we discussed, but we had a really great time with Chuck and Pat. One of the all-important hot topics was if you were truly compatible and ready to spend your life together, you would have no problem using your spouse’s toothbrush.

I did not have a problem with it at the time, and neither did Joe. We’ve probably used each other’s toothbrushes a handful of times over the years, but they are really not that expensive an item that everyone can’t have one of their own.

Flash forward to 2020 and the dreaded COVID-19. Now swapping toothbrushes is definitely out.

Just like everyone else though, I’m suffering from germ fatigue. I long to go back to the good, old days when we didn’t worry about germs, and hand sanitizer and masks were not our constant companions.

Like that fun family home movie of me, my sister and my brothers all in a line. Apparently, we all had colds or maybe Mom wanted us all to have a cold at the same time because it was easier for her to deal with.

Dad was running the 1960s movie camera with its super-bright lights on top that were probably visible from space. You had spots in your eyes for about 20 minutes after the movie camera was used. As each kid got to the front of the line, Mom used the same spoon (yes, you read that correctly — the same spoon) to shovel liquid cough medicine in our mouths.

It was almost like we rehearsed that. I bet we did. I can just hear Dad giving us our direction and motivation before the camera started to roll.

And the Academy award goes to my sister, ever the ham, who turns to the camera, smiles and pats her belly like that cough medicine was the best stuff she had ever consumed.

I guess we really didn’t have to worry about getting sick from using the same spoon because we were already sick. But still, using the same spoon — not a problem.

One of the other things we never thought twice about when we were kids was the communal plastic cup that set on the sink in the kitchen. Thirsty? Just go grab that cup and get a drink, the same one everybody else had been drinking out of for who knows how long. I’m sure we rinsed it before each use and even washed it at some point, maybe daily, but as a kid that’s just what we did.

In the past we all shared our germs before and after we were sick. One time Dad said he knew it was going to be a bad evening when he came home from work and two family members were heaving into the same bucket. Ah, nothing like family togetherness.

Who remembers going to a baseball game where they filled a bucket full of water and stuck a ladle in it? After the players got a drink, they would throw any extra water left in the ladle on the ground and not back in the bucket, but everyone on the team drank out of that — no bottled water in sight.

Can you imagine? We used to live like that, and we were happy. And we all had the flu, measles, mumps and chicken pox together. Fun times.

Well, got to go get a drink out of the garden hose. Have a good week everyone and stay safe.


Loading next article...

End of content

No more pages to load