On the Road Again, Part 3

I can't believe I forgot to tell you what I remembered while washing my hands before making dinner. You never know when or where you might find some little tidbit of wisdom you never knew before. It happened for me on Saturday afternoon in the women's room of a Bob Evans restaurant in Leesburg, FL.

As I was washing my hands I noticed a little sign stuck to the bottom corner of the mirror. I figured it was the obligatory, employees MUST wash their hands sign, you see in all public restrooms. I'd like to think that employees employ this rather simple task without being reminded EVERY time they walk in the bathroom but I guess when you're messing with stuff like EColi it's better to remind than pay the consequences.

So I was looking in the mirror at myself which is very narcisstic I know, but I can't help myself. When I pass a mirror I always give my chin a quick once over so I can cover up if I should find a stray hair that has somehow grown a quarter of an inch since the last time I checked. After deciding that my chin was sufficiently denuded, I zeroed in on the sign. It wasn't a big sign so I hadto look close to read it. Here's my take on what it said.

In order to kill the germs on your hands before you go back to work or to eat you should lather up for 20 seconds. Coincidentally this is the same amount of time it takes to sing one verse of Old MacDonald's Farm. [Sweetie just timed me and I did it in 23 seconds] This means while you are washing your hands you should also be entertaining whoever is behind the locked doors with a moo moo hear, or an oink oink there, or a baa baa, etc. Sure you could sing it to yourself but seriously, what's the fun of singing this song without really getting into it.

Since I just learned this nugget of washroom wisdom I have not actually tried it. I can't wait til I'm standing next to a little girl who has to stand on tip toes to reach the faucet to practice my new clean hands technique. She'll probably look at me like I'm "stranger danger" and she'll look around for her mom, but won't it be cool if she joins me singing. It could be like a bathroom Old MacDonald flash mob.

I wonder sometimes who makes these things up? Which came first the fact that 20 seconds is the allotted time to sanitize your hands or that it just happens to take Old MacDonald's chicken 20 seconds to complete her cluck cluck verse. Seriously, who figures this stuff out? Men in blue suits sitting around an advertising board room table? IT people who have completed all their tasks and need something to do before designing an even smaller cell phone that can text, email and remind you to wash your hands? Maybe it was a mother who, at her wits end, sang Old MacDonald over and over again while trying to get her 2 year old to tinkle on a strange potty and when it came handwashing time, she just kept singing?

So I'm wondering, do you sing when you wash your hands? Do you think you will now? I suspect you might because as much as you'd like to forget this information it's going to pop into your brain next time you're in the bathroom. That's the way of random trivia. Try remembering where you put your glasses or car keys. That might take you all day. But I'm betting next time you tinkle you're going to be warming up for your hand washing solo.

Today I'm grateful for things that are just plain silly. I'm grateful the earthquake rumbled but didn't tumble anything down. And I'm grateful for seeds of a new adventure being planted.

Wishing for you a song that makes you smile,

Merry ME