Good Ol' Dad

Owen and Emily are both sick. Owen's doing much better now with the antibiotics, and I'm keeping a close watch on Emily. The moment she gets a fever I'll take her in. But maybe it won't get to that point.

But anyway, after supper tonite I was thinking that I wanted to take the kids' temps before bed. I still have a mercury thermometer which I feel is more accurate than our ear thermometer. I use that on Owen because he's old enough to hold it under his tongue and not break it. But for Emily and Ethan I use the ear one.

Thinking about all that triggered the memory of a story my mom told about my dad from when my brother and I were little kids. Dad is just like me, a chapstick addict. He must have been out of chapstick and used the Vaseline as a substitute. Do you see where this is going?

One day he came walking out to the room Mom was in as he was carrying the little jar of Vaseline. I can totally see my dad holding the jar and rubbing the Vaseline on his lips as he asks, "Why are there so many little holes in the Vaseline?" And my mom's reply?

"I always dip the thermometer in the Vaseline before I take the kids' temperatures." (We were little, Mom took our temp rectally because they hadn't invented digital thermometers yet.)

Imagine Dad's reaction to the knowledge that before the thermometer was placed in our little rears, it was plunged into that very jar of Vaseline he was smothering all over his lips. Of course, Mom thoroughly cleaned and sterilized the thermometer each time with alcohol after taking our temps, but still it is kind of gross. I suppose she didn't use that Vaseline for anything else, and she probably didn't even think about poor dad using it as lip balm.

It STILL makes me laugh!