As germophobes, we have struggles to face every day. There are battles to be fought against our mighty foe: filth. We keep our heads held high, and there are times when that is imperative if we want to avoid disaster.
I had been to the store after a long day at work, and I was anxious to get home. I still had a twenty-minute drive to get there, and perhaps that’s why I hastily yanked on the seat belt to put it on. What happens when one pulls on a seat belt too quickly? The safety feature is activated, and it locks. This has caused problems for me a few times in the past, usually when the force of it rips a hole in the plastic baggie I have to use to touch the seat belt where it latches. There have been other times that it has caused my covered hand holding the belt to jerk back and hit part of my shirt near the shoulder, thus spreading contaminants to an undesirable area. But this most recent time was the worst.
I tugged at the seat belt, and it locked. The force of it sent my hand and the fastener back, right into my chin. I should have had my chin up! Realistically, it would have hit my throat instead, so that wouldn’t have helped. But I then had to make a decision: Would I clean off my chin right away or wait until I got home? There were pros and cons to both. If I waited until getting home, that left open an opportunity for cross-contamination. I might forget temporarily and touch my chin with my hand. And did I even have enough wipes in the car to take care of the problem? I found the wipes, and yes, there were enough. But if I used them, I would have to toss them on the floor of the car, which would be a mess to clean up later. I wanted to go home rather than spend more time in the parking lot, so I decided to chance it. I made it home okay and pulled out the package of wipes before anything else happened. I used eight wet wipes on my chin, covering a larger area with each wipe. I didn’t want to miss a spot!
Once again, it proved true that we can never become complacent. We can do something a thousand times – quite literally – and still get an unwelcome surprise. Keep your chin up, germophobes, and don’t let life get you down!
