"You can just forget about it."

There are a few different ways that I blog.

1. I think long and hard about it. I make sure the words fit together perfectly. I make sure it sounds exactly the way I want it to. This one doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it's a process.
2. I'm somewhere like the shower or driving and something comes to me. I get home and write it really quickly and post it without even reading it again.
3. I hear something that someone says. I say to myself..."self, you should write about that." So I do.

Today I'm doing #3.

I overheard a conversation today. First I was super grossed out because they were talking about chiggers burrowing in their skin. Then they said "honestly though, I'd rather have a tick than chiggers because once you take a tick off you never have to think about it again, you can just forget about it."

Oh.

Oh how I wish that were the case.

Of course I'm not faulting the person talking about it. They have no way to understand how wrong their comment was. If they understood, they never would have said it. I'm glad they don't get it. I just wish I didn't get it either.

She said when you take off a tick you can just forget about it.

But you know what else you forget about?

The words you are trying to say. The names of people you've known forever. The password to your phone. Your social security number. Which medicines you're supposed to be taking at what time.

What it feels like to be okay.

So yes, maybe she was able to take off a tick and never think about it again. Maybe she could just forget about it. But not everyone is so lucky.

So, if you have the ability to do so, remember. Remember to check yourself for ticks. Remember to be aware of what you're saying and who you're saying it to. And remember to remember how lucky you are.