Left Behind

I really tried hard to not be myself-like while packing up our stuff in Utah. See, I have a bad habit when I travel. I'm a leave-behind-er.

It's like the packing up to leave is the Rapture, and only the worthy toiletries will be packed up for life in the celestial kingdom that is home.

The last time we traveled was last summer for my dad's funeral. I left behind an awesome facial cleanser in the shower. I have yet to find the same brand again. I was and am super pissed.
Once I left behind a pair of jeans on a houseboat trip. I have no idea how I did it. We checked and doublechecked the boat when we turned it in so we'd get the full deposit refunded, so in theory nothing should have been left behind...of course, I found a way. I'm always leaving stuff at my mom's house when I visit, but she's kind enough to pack it into a box and send it home to me. It's a normal thing for me to get a box with a deodorant, a magazine, a necklace and a shirt and maybe a bra about a week after I get home from my mom's house.

This time though was epic. On the drive home, specifically exactly halfway home, I couldn't find my car keys and thought I left them in Utah...I freaked out for precisely one second when I realized that my keys were packed in my suitcase...phew. That would have been the most extreme leave behind yet.

However, I did leave behind a nearly full Bath and Body Works Cotton Blossom body cream, my favorite comb, my facial cleanser (again) and my razor - probably about $25 worth of stuff. This doesn't include the things I left behind on purpose which were a puzzle Elizabeth won at the carnival, some trial size shampoo and a tiny half-full bottle of Dove body wash.

I didn't even REALIZE that I left all that stuff until I unpacked and saw it was all missing. I had to go out yesterday and buy a new comb, new facial cleanser and a new razor.

The razor that I left behind was a Venus Divine that needed a new blade anyway. When I went to Wal-Mart replace the razor I was inexplicably captivated by the Intuition. This is the razor for women that has the blade surrounded by a bar of moisturizing shave soap. Very intriguing.
I went with my intution and bought the Intuition though I was skeptical that the shave soap would last very long in the shower getting wet all the time and also that the blade would be able to shave very well with that block of soap around it.

I used it for the first time today. When I went to grab it out of the holder I immediately got that Jewel song in my head: "Follow your heaaaart/ Your intuiiiiition/ It will lead you/ In the right direction" it was very distracting.

Surprisingly, the shave was quite close and the soap sudsed up nicely, very smooth. It didn't have exactly the moisturizing capability that I was hoping for. I have very dry skin, especially in the summer. I was hoping to come out with uber-moisturized legs, but they are now dry and ashy, so the quest for the perfect lotion continues.

We'll see how long this new razor lasts. I've been a Venus girl since 1998, so this is a big change for me.