A Shout-Out to Peppermint Soap--and Great Gift-Giving!

During March, I am participating in the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by twowritingteachers.wordpress.com. Bloggers from around the world are posting daily, committed to the practice of sharing, reflecting, remembering...writing! Feel free to stop by this incredible March happening and check out other posts or even join in--there's no rule that says you have to start on March 1st!

This morning's post is in honor of Amy, my wonderful sister-in-law who gave me my favorite birthday present--a bar of soap.

Last year, we lost power for a few days and we were not able to take hot showers at our house. My husband's brother and his wife live nearby, so we trekked over to their house with our towels and flat hair. Amy always has shampoos that smell good and exotic hair treatments, but during that shower, it was the soap I loved. It tingled. Really, positively tingled.

I asked Amy about it and she agreed that it was pretty special soap--not your average Dove bar, which had been my bar of choice, up until that shower. Amy frequents many organic grocery stores and had discovered this peppermint soap at Trader Joe's. I made a mental note to buy myself a bar the next time I succumbed to my craving for the chocolate covered pretzels with peanut butter inside them that I can only buy at Trader Joe's. Peppermint soap. Dessert Essence. I vowed to remember. I forgot.

Fortunately, Amy is not only a great stocker of bathroom luxuries, but she is also an amazing gift-giver. She has the knack for giving not the most expensive presents, but the presents that you don't even know you are coveting. Guess what was at the bottom of my gift bag, underneath the new Jhumpa Lahari book and the new Aerie undershirt?!? Dessert Essence peppermint soap!

Since I don't have my own shower--I have to share with my husband--I had to share my soap. Garth also likes the peppermint soap. (Remember--it tingles!)  I winced when I watched him lather it up and he is a big latherer. I think he was inspired by the Irish Mist commercial as a young boy. (Anyone remember that commercial?) I really wanted my soap to last forever, so I finally told him that it costs $5 a bar. That's all I needed to say-- his lathering decreased. I offered him the option of having his and her soaps in the shower if the price tag was more than he could handle for a bar of soap and he declined. In fact, we ran out of not only Dessert Essence last month, but also Dove--we were left with only a mustard colored bar of Dial to use. I splurged for my peppermint soap and I had to laugh when the Dial remained dry and untouched in the shower, once the pricey soap bar showed up. Garth likes the peppermint soap, too.

I hope that I haven't offended any Dial users out there--it's funny how we bond with our toothpastes and soaps! What I also hope is that I have inspired gift-giving. While I value my peppermint soap (remember--I have independently replaced the bar that Amy had placed at the bottom of my gift bag), I value the reminder of the love and friendship that the soap also represents. Gift-givers pay attention and remember and spend time tracking down that perfect present.

Enjoying my soap and thinking about my gifts...