The other day, I noticed a small red spot on my chin.  It itched and looked funny. I kept my eye on it and found that the silly thing was growing and blistering.

I remembered having cold sores on my chin as a child, but I couldn't remember how my mom had taken care of them. But a cold sore is a cold sore, so I asked some friends if they knew a quick way to make a cold sore go away.

My friend, Polly, said that her sister gets cold sores, and she swears by Preparation H. So I asked my husband to stop by the store on the way home from Boy Scouts and pick up some Prep H.

Tim came in the door, handed me the tube of Prep H, and watched me with a puzzled look as I smeared a little of it on the red blistered area on my chin.

"Is that supposed to go on that end of the body?" he asked.

"Polly's sister swears by it," I answered, in a tone that said there was no question that Prep H could go anywhere Polly's sister said it could go.

I waited expectantly for the little blister to disappear, but it grew. And grew. And grew.

I considered getting a Muslim face scarf. This was getting desperate. People couldn't talk to me without staring at my chin. By yesterday afternoon, all of me had disappeared except for my poor blistered chin. At least, the way that people stared at my chin as I walked by made me sure that my chin was all of me that they could see.

My mother called this morning. Her chickens had escaped from the chicken yard again, and she needed a few children to help her get them back in. I dropped the kids off, and ran with the rest of the kids to the store to try to find some limestone, alum, and plaster of paris for a science experiment.

When I came out of the store, my mother was parked near our van, with the three little helpers waiting for me to come out. As I walked toward her vehicle, my mother...my very own mother who bore me and raised me...even she could not take her eyes from my chin.

"Wow, Shurleen," she said. "It's really bad this time."

"Yes," I said. "It's been so long since I've had a cold sore. I forgot what we did for them, but my friend suggested Preparation H. I'm hoping it will kick in pretty quick here."

"How long have you been using it," Mom asked.

"About three days," I answered.

"Well, you are lucky it hasn't spread all over your face!" she exclaimed. "That's not a cold sore! It's impetigo! The only way to get rid of it is to keep it clean and use antibiotic ointment. That's a bacteria growing on your chin and you are letting that gel make a warm, protected place for it to grow!"

Oh yuck!

I raced home, washed the thing clean of Preparation H, smothered it in antibiotic cream, and repeated the process once an hour.  A few hours later, I finally noticed the red gone, the blisters drying out, and the whole thing a tiny bit smaller.

The Preparation H went into our first aid box in case anyone comes down with a *real* cold sore.

My friend, Brenda, posted a number of quotes by famous people that made me feel a lot less stupid. At least compared to some of the people below, I feel as smart as Norman Einstein.

****************************************************

(On September 17, 1994, Alabama's Heather Whitestone was selected as Miss America 1995.)
Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?
Answer: "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever," --Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest.

``````````````````````````````````
"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff."
--Mariah Carey
```````````````````````````````````
"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life," --Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign.

```````````````````````````````````
"I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body," --Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.

```````````````````````````````````
"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country," -Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC.

```````````````````````````````````
"That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jack***, and I'm just the one to do it," --A congressional candidate in Texas.

````````````````````````````
"Half this game is ninety percent mental."
--Philadelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark

`````````````````````````````````
"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it." --Al Gore, Vice President

````````````````````````````
"I love California . I practically grew up in Phoenix." --Dan Quayle

`````````````````````````````````
"We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?" --Lee Iacocca

````````````````````````````````````
"The word "genius" isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." --Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback & sports analyst.

``````````````````````````````````
"We don't necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people."
--Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instrutor.

````````````````````````````````
"Traditionally, most of Australia 's imports come from overseas." --Keppel Enderbery

````````````````````````````````
"Your food stamps will be stopped effective
March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances." --Department of Social Services, Greenville, South Carolina

```````````````````````````````````
"If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the next morning, when
they wake up dead, there'll be a record"
--Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman