Friday, May 22, 2009

Back Away From the Band-Aids

We all have some irrational item we hang onto for nostalgic purposes. The cologne bottle that has long since stopped smelling good but reminds you of the good times of a bad relationship. The t-shirt that no long smells like him but hides in the back of a drawer because you just can't throw it away. For me? It's band-aids.

No, not dirty ones. But during high school I came across the coolest band-aids in the world. Glow in the dark band-aids.



As you can see, they helped me hang on to my Southern California roots in the wake of a brutal high school upheaval into redneck hell. Including my propensity for the usage of Dude! One of my favorite memories is of my big black cat perched on my stomach in the middle of the night. I waved my glowingly-wrapped finger back and forth in the air, and I could feel his head whipping around, tracking my finger as his weight shifted to follow the movement. When I laughed and tried to good-naturedly thump him, he must have thought the mother lode had hit as he wrapped himself around my entire arm and bit the shit out of me.

These band-aids and their tin have followed me to college for my undergrad. Back to my parents house for grad school. Overseas to Sweden and back again. My relationship with Hubbie nearly ended when he cut himself and used several of the band-aids to tape up some random injury. Dude! You are supposed to dole these out, motherfucker!!! And yet, he married me anyway.

The tin is now full of dinosaur and Hello Kitty! band-aids. I believe there are still one or two of the glow-in-the-dark variety, but I do not have the heart to look. I am sure if there are any left the adhesive has long since dried out as to make them useless. I don't want to face that reality. I'd like to live with the dream that I might one day open the tin when in need of a bandage and have the pleasure of finding one of my old friends. Call it my version of the Owie Bunny.

7 comments:

Irrational Dad said...

I go through bandaids quick! I would have done the same thing your hubby did, but I probably wouldn't have learned my lesson.

I can't really think of something that I hold onto like that though.... I'll have to think about that.

A Free Man said...

Tubular? Seriously? I don't think I said that even when it was 'cool'.

Gypsy said...

We said dude a lot down here in the Florida panhandle. Maybe it was the beach.

But I do love nostalgic products, like Apple Petcin.

Coal Miner's Granddaughter said...

Oh, Gypsy just brought back the 80s for me with those two little words - Apple Pectin. Must. Find. That. Shampoo.

Awesome story, hon. :)

Patois42 said...

Dude! Maybe you should try eBay and see if there are any for sale.

Blues said...

What an ironic bandaid, that gets you attacked by wearing it.

There was a strip club in Phoenix called Bandaids. I never knew if it was because people were all beat up in their or if the dancers were wearing bandaids instead of underwear. Either way, i never went in to find out.

ThoughtCombine said...

hi there...believe it or not, I'm the inventor of the Glow-in-the-dark Band-aids. if you contact me thru our website i'll see if i've got a box for you. http://thoughtcombine.com/