I guess I'll have the laugh at the "strangeness" of this addiction, but not at the usual aging process of losing almost everything familiar when we can't remember where we put it last.

I guess I was about nine when I discovered that other kids seemed to have to have Chapstick in the wintertime when it was cold and the humidity got down to less than 10% in the upper Midwest. Like suntan oils like Coppertone (they weren't called sunscreens back then and we didn't have the weakening of the ozone layer) and tired blood for fixers like Geritol or liver enhancers like Carter's Little Liver Pills. It was easy to get addicted to "cures" that I never bothered spending my hard-earned money on. Somehow, go I managed to avoid those ailments until most of those products were found to be bogus and disappeared.

Lately, on the edge of old age, I find that I have a dry mouth sleeping at night that I quench with water (the new bogus cure) and occasional dry lips. I find that my dry lips are magically cured by simply licking them with my tongue and my saliva magically hydrates them and they come back to normal.

Chapstick, Chapstick! Wherefore art though, Chapstick! My kingdom for a Chapstick! I'll even give you my horse (voice). ;-)

Ron