"We need lip stuff," Heidi told me yesterday on the way to school. "It's getting colder and I can't find any."
Rather than answer directly, I told her about an essay by Ann Patchett I had just read called "My Year of No Shopping". In it, Patchett writes, My first few months of no shopping were full of gleeful discoveries. I ran out of lip balm early on and before making a decision about whether lip balm constituted a need, I looked in my desk drawers and coat pockets. I found five lip balms.
"We probably have a bunch of lip balm all over the house," I laughed. "I can't remember the last time I actually finished one, can you?"
Heidi shrugged, unconvinced. Perhaps she sensed that I was considering a year of no shopping myself and was bracing for it, or maybe she was just thinking we should buy some damn lip balm.
I thought of our conversation this afternoon after a day spent in my warm and dry classroom. My lips were stinging a bit, and I knew I needed to be mindful not to lick them into an angry, red mess. After the last of the kids had headed off for PE and electives, I opened the top drawer of my desk, certain I had some chapstick in there.
Did I ever! I hit the jackpot with three little pots of our favorite lip balm as well as a couple of sticks of peppermint. I guess we won't be shopping for lip stuff after all!
Last year some students taught us how to make lip balm. If you want to get in on that let me know, I have their recipe.
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