Scented, Sparkly Lip Gloss

Yesterday I was putting on my coconut pineapple lip gloss, a gift from a friend while I was in Tanzania, and as the sweet sent hit my nose I was reminded of such a delightful story that I took a moment to remember it and those in it.

This is my memory.

While living in Tanzania I was able to be the caregiver to a sweet little girl, Happy. Happy she was, especially when she had her chapstick to put on. Her previous caregiver had taught her all about the tastiness and glamor of applying things to our lips. So she always wanted some and if I was to put any on then I must do so without her seeing it or I would have to share (not that sharing is bad :)


This was also during the time that we were testing out Happy sleeping in her bed without the crib wall up. Which we soon realized she needed because of the many nights I woke up to a little girl crying in the living room or standing by my bed in my room wanting me.

On one such night I woke up to her crying in the living room and per normal I rolled out of bed, crawled out under my mosquito net and went to rescue her from her night walking. As I picked her up I thought she smelt beachy, like she had on sunscreen or some other tropical lotion. I thought that perhaps after her bath one of the volunteers put their lotion on her to let her smell good. I lay her back in bed, waited for her to fall back asleep and then I stumbled back to my bed.

In the mornings I always liked to wake up first before the others and have some personal worship of God time. This morning was no different, except when I went out into the living room and saw the dining room table I knew there had been a party out there in the night.

On the table there was salt and pepper shaken all over the table. I mean ALL OVER. Thankfully the other volunteer, Lili, had closed her computer because all over it was salt and pepper. Then things started looking a bit sparkly. . . and sticky. On closer inspection I realized I had left my tube of lip gloss out on the table where little hands, if standing on a chair could reach. There I identified the smell that was on Happy as I carried her back to bed. She had rubbed it all over her person, the table, the tube and the salt and pepper shakers. What a kiddo. What a mess. What an adventure.

All that came back to me yesterday as I was putting on my lip gloss, the smell transporting me back and the dirt that was left around the lid of my tube.

I like my new job, but at times I do miss little Happy and the adventures I had while in Tanzania.