You Live... You Learn?

you know, there is that whole saying that goes on about being "older and wiser" or "learning from your mistakes". we (and that could be the royal we) believe that as we go through life we learn life lessons that will keep us from making the same mistakes over and over again. ha! i say, ha!

years ago, i gargled with listerine and swore, as i spat it out and rinsed my mouth over and over, never again. and yet years later, i found myself buying it again - as though there are no other choices in the stored. i took it home and, following the instructions in the commercial, determinedly gargled with the stuff for a full 30 seconds. oh my goodness!!! i burnt my mouth. i mean seriously like i had inadvertently sucked some sodium hydroxide too quickly through the pipette and gotten some on my tongue. for a couple of days my tongue was seriously tender. but i had been convinced to buy a huge bottle of the stuff. what was i to do? i could invite a whole lot of overnight guests over and hope that they were into gargling with lots of listerine. that didn't work. i did, on days when i was feeling particularly brave and strong and true, try a quick and meaningless gargle with the listerine. but the bottle would not empty out. darn economy size.

finally, last week i decided to go out and buy new mouthwash that i would actually use properly. no listerine, was the mental note. i went to the pharmacy and, no prizes for what i walked out with. the new LISTERINE vanilla mint - allegedly "less intense, equally effective". argh! is all i have to say after first gargle. will i ever learn??

i am promising myself that next time i am going to get rembrandt mouth refreshing rinse. i have read that it is alcohol free (i am assuming it is the alcohol that burns) and, in an in vivo double blind study, "Rembrandt Mouth Refreshing Rinse and Listerine inhibited all three types of bacteria, and were not significantly different from each other in efficacy".

i mean, seriously, if i can't learn from mouthwash, what can i learn from?