Look What I Found!

Look What I Found!

I can’t help thinking about a conversation I recently had with friends. The question put to the merlot-laden table was: Do you go through people’s medicine cabinets when you’re visiting their home?

The overwhelming response: “Hell, yes.”

First, you should know that these weren’t just neighbors and friends from my cul-de-sac (I know they would rifle though my cabinets faster than Britney Spears can check in and out of rehab), these were “professional colleagues.” These were the kind of friends you make as an adult, who didn’t know you back when you used to skip high school to smoke cigarettes and drink bad coffee at the pancake house. These were people who may potentially have been woven from a tighter moral and ethical fabric than your life-long friends-- the ones you love despite their character flaws.

But it turns out, most of us are the same. We’re all curious (read: snoopy) about how other people live. Is Suzie as “balanced” as she appears?” Is Ed as together as he comes off in his best-selling book? Is Trudy really that wrinkle-free, or is there a tell-tale tube of Mederma in her cabinet? We want to know where we fit in on the scale of 1-10 (as in, normal = 1, to they’re coming to take me away, ha ha ho ho = 10).

Medicine cabinets give us a glimpse into our friends’ “other world.” The world that they don’t want you in. The stuff of life.

I would caution you though that there are a few people (eg. me) who are well prepared when hosting a party and make sure the only thing that jumps out is a well-placed vitamin C bottle and some luxuriously fragrant facial cream. But then, I’m the sort of person who would just tell you whatever you wanted to know. No need to dig.

If you are the type who takes time to “look,” be aware you might find something you really, really didn’t want to know about—like anti-serial killer pills, or an eye- of-newt remedy for a deadly contagious airborne virus. What do you do with that information? Do you tell someone, “Well, I was snooping through Bella’s cabinet when I came across…” ?

Too much information can be a real burden. But then it seems that sometimes it can give you just the edge you need to build your self-esteem and put a sneaky little, I- know-something- you- don’t- know smile on your face. Isn’t that why people do it?

Regardless of where you fall in the snoop category-- based on my
teeny, tiny and telling little survey…you probably have someone going through your cabinets each time you have people over.

With that, I must go dust my Vitamin C bottle. I’m having people over tonight.

Molly Cox