When I used to buy condoms 700 years ago, I was careful to do two things.  First, in a case of “optimism kills”, I stopped buying big boxes.  Inevitably they led to breakups or droughts.  Second, I always bought bubble gum with them.  In my earliest days of buying them, I was nervous so this made me feel less conspicuous.  Yes this was ridiculous but remember, it was 700 years ago.  Then it just became a habit.

This popped into my head the other day at CVS when I was browsing adult diapers and pads.  As a Sandwich Generation dad, I am many years removed from buying either condoms for myself or diapers for my now 12 year-olds.  (Note: for them, puberty is the more imminent and scary challenge).  Incontinence, however, is becoming a bigger problem for the other half of the sandwich.  Hence my reading labels and trying to figure out a solution.  There are many reasons that the standard adult protective underwear, if you will, will not work for my dad.

That’s a whole other post.  What I will say is that when it comes to compromising purchases, I find that I still prefer to make them alongside gum.  Some things never change.