It's the Season....

...for sharing cooties. Last week, dh and I went in to see a financial planner. Very nice office, very nice guy we've done business with in the past. We sat at a large conference table and watched the tall, well-dressed guy put his coffee on the table and begin apologizing for the cold he has. Being polite, we both kind of waved it off and smiled. Oh, no problem, no problem.

As he sat and began his presentation, however, we both noticed that the guy had large flakes of skin hanging from his lips. Visualize torn strips of white paper, perhaps toilet paper, stuck to one's lips. As he sipped his coffee two feet from me, it was hard to concentrate on his pie charts.

Suddenly, he realized that something was there, and still talking, picked one of the flakes off, looked at it, wiped it on his trousers and kept talking. We watched in hidden horror. At the end of the meeting, he apologized. "I get this once a year and then I'm fine, you know. Just a simple herpes virus." Herpes! Did you say herpes? Sure, I'm well aware that's the name of the cold virus but just saying it makes it seem so much more, I don't know, STD.

And then, he stuck his hand out in assertive businessman-like fashion, and well-trained businessman dh is and I was, we shook his hand. After getting in the car, we simultaneously began wiping our hands on our trousers. I pulled my Germ-X from my purse and we sanitized! I don't know what's worse, the cold or the cooties this time of year. Neither of us contracted it and it's been a week, so I think we're in the clear.