Might as well face it I'm addicted to.. Chapstick.

Hello my name is Booty and I'm addicted to Chapstick. {Hello Booty.} I don't really remember the first time I tried Chapstick, but I must have been pretty young. It has been a staple in my life for prolly decades now, but I really became aware of it in high school. Every where I went, I made sure I had a tube on me or planted tubes in the places I knew I would be. In my car, locker, backpack, jean pocket.. Madre wasn't too happy about that because she would often wash my jeans with the Chapstick still in them. If she didn't find it in the washer, it would take the Chapstick melting trip to the dryer, where it would proceed to ruin all the clothes in the load. But I didn't care.. I just needed my Chapstick. If for some strange reason I would find myself without Chapstick, a mental freakout would occur. I would break out into a cold sweat, and run down the list of known places where Chapstick might be. I would then consider changing my route to get some Chapstick, or just buy more Chapstick at the store. You can never have too much Chapstick. And I'm not talking about the generic, crappy, cherry flavored kiddy's chapstick. I'm talking about Chapstick brand chapstick, Chapstick Medicated. The kind of Chapstick that burns soooo good when you put it on. The burn signifies healing my dry, parched lips and turns them into luscious, plump, moisturized lips that could form my words with perfect, delectable ease.

I tried other brands, of course. Blistex, Burt's Beeswax.. You name it, I've tried it. I even went down the dark, dark road of Carmex. Talk about heroine for your lips. I only tried it once or twice, and the intense burn was sweet enough for me to know I prolly shouldn't be using it. I quickly went back to Chapstick.

For a long time, I didn't think I had a problem. Of course I would freak out if I didn't have Chapstick within reaching distance, but that was just something I had to deal with. Some people deal with absent fathers and life time illnesses; I dealt with always needing Chapstick close by my side or I would be in a bad mood. If I suddenly realized that I wouldn't have access to Chapstick for a long period of time (15 minutes or more), my lips would immediately get dry, crack, and torture for me for my stupidity of forgetting Chapstick. This was just my life. And I lived this life happily, dependent on Chapstick, but ridiculing others for their weaknesses and dependencies on drugs, food, people, etc. "You eat chocolate every day? You fat pig. Can't you control yourse OHNOIFORGOTMYCHAPSTICK!!! THE WORLD IS ENDING! Oh wait, I found some in my pocket. I can't believe you do that though. Weak."

I packed 5 tubes on my trip to Asia, all in different places. I couldn't depend on any country having my particular brand so I brought enough to last me the 6 months. Over in Asia, my lips were in especially good shape because it was so humid over there. Add on 5 layers of Chapstick and I had the plumpest, most moist lips possible. They tingled with delight alllll the time, prolly because I was constantly applying Medicated Chapstick, but I like to think they were just that happy.

Upon returning home, I knew I had a problem. I hated that panicky feeling I would get when I didn't have Chapstick within an arms reach. I didn't want to be beholden to anything, yet here I was, dependent on Chapstick. Completely.

I decided to quit cold turkey. I knew if I let myself have any artificial lip moisture, I would cave in and need it all the time. I had been using Chapstick for many, many years, so I knew it was going to be tough. However, I had no idea how tough it was really going to be.

The first week was agony. Who am I kidding, after 30 minutes I was sweating and pacing, thinking I had made a horrible decision. My lips immediately dried up, and I mean dried up.. I'm pretty sure my lips just forgot how to make their own moisture. My plan was to go without for a couple of weeks and then my lips would start creating that moisture all on their own and Voila la! No more addiction and hello supple, plump lips again. Boy was I wrong.

To Be Continued...