After making it through one winter month with my own lips very dry and those of my children cracking and looking painful, I decided to stash a secret Chapstick in the kitchen. I found a spot nobody but me would think to look because of its height. It is slightly above the kitchen sink, on a small corner shelf that is eye level to me, and me only. It is too low to catch my husband's attention and way out of the little people's reach. Behind a decorative beer stein on this shelf, I stashed a plain black wrappered Chapstick. Now when I see the children's lips starting to dry and harden, I can sneak out the hidden stash, apply it myself to the affected daughter, and then quickly return it to the spot behind the beer stein. It is also there for those times when I might need a little lip healing before the corners of my mouth crack while trying to bite into my lunch in February.
This has worked for most of the winter. But one day I was applying some nice plain, unflavored or colored Chapstick to my own self when I noticed the end was near. The bottom knob would turn and turn, but the top was not going to advance any further. For very selfish reasons, we made a stop at the local five and dime drug store on the way home from school that day. I bought everybody more Chapstick! There was green and red and blue tubes, enough for all the girls to each have one, and me as well. Obviously, their Chapsticks were flavored or sparkly, while mine was plain original, again. But for some reason, completely unbeknownst to my consciousness, I put my Chapstick into my jeans pocket, just like my three girls did.
Later that week, I remembered. And I needed something for my lips which were, of course, starting to dry out with a coming cold caught from one of my small germ factories. This is after many loads of laundry, many sittings on the couch, and plenty of going here, there and everywhere. Surprisingly, my Chapstick was not to be found. Not in any pocket, bedside stand, kitchen countertop, crayon box, dollhouse or in any of the multitude of small purses that find their way to our house. I did find a green minty Chapstick, which worked well, but was a little spicy actually. It did the trick for the time being, but would not replace my plain black wrapper. After using the green mint version, I left it on the living room coffee table for the children to find, and then argue over whom it actually, originally belonged to, and who was going to now lay full claim to owning and not sharing.
For the next week I fought off the mid-winter cold threatening to crack my lips. And I fought to find that replacement Chapstick I had bought. But I didn't. Instead, I fixed several cracked teacups with superglue and loaded the whole family up with vitamin C to ward off the impending cold. The glue held, and the cups were filled with soothing tea that helped to cure the colds and the add steam to the dry winter air.
Several weeks later, I absentmindedly reached for Chapstick in my old hiding spot. It had not magically returned itself, but I did find a tube of cracked lip sealer. The superglue.