adventures with lip balm!

My sister, Virginia lives in Korea. She has an exotic, exciting life and I occasionally wish I were her. She works an abbreviated week and has friends and activities that keep her busy in the hustle and bustle of a major Asian city. She takes the best holidays to the most desirable locations. And she is a super shopper! She sends us the coolest stuff.

I love my stainless steel set of chopsticks, complete with velvet case; the nicest silver ware I own. She gets fun things for real cheap and we have been showered with the best in socks and t-shirts and "hello kitty" over the years. I've got silk screened art and paintings and the list goes on...The novelty items she finds on her shopping excursions are un-paralleled.

But the one thing that my other sisters have always loved to receive is "Tiger Balm". They are always asking her for Tiger Balm. And she has always been quick to oblige. I never knew exactly what Tiger Balm was but I knew everybody loved it so I was excited last time I opened a treasure package from Virginia and found a small tub of Tiger Balm! Score!
I put it aside and decided to investigate at a time when I could thoroughly enjoy it. A few days later, my lips were feeling a little dry. I was headed towards the bathroom where I keep a HUGE supply of lip balm when I remembered my new tub of Tiger Balm in my bedside table!

I dug it out and smeared a generous amount of the beloved salve all over my lips. As I was returning to the kitchen where my family was gathering for Sunday dinner my lips began to BURN!!!!

I wasn't sure what exactly was happening but it kind of felt like they might actually explode... I turned to my other sister, Wendi and said, "I don't think that Tiger Balm stuff is very good. It just makes my lips hurt. I ffleel like I've been to the dentispt and he fwroze my liffps."

Wendi gasped in horror and exclaimed incredulously, "You put Tiger Balm on your LIPS?!!"

Then everyone in the room started to laugh and mock my pain, my foolishness, my naivety, etc. etc. etc. It was apparently quite hilarious.

How come I'm the only one on the planet that didn't know that Tiger Balm is NOT lip balm?
Oh, well: lesson learned. It's Thursday now and my lips hardly even tingle today.