Ewww . . . really?

The other day, I took my daughter, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law to the park so one of the four of us could play outside for the afternoon. It was a lovely day with the sun shining, a breeze blowing the tree branches, well-dressed kids teasing the turtles in the pond after their graduation ceremonies, and then . . .

"Could you spit on my daughter's foot, please?"

WHAT?!?

Clara was happily rocking away on her motorcycle, when a woman and her 12-year-old daughter came up to us. The daughter was clearly uncomfortable, as her mother explained that an ant had bitten her. Yep, that does sting. Then again, it may have been her mother's request that really made uncomfortable.

Being at the park, they were all out of ice, meat tenderizers, and other home remedies for cutting pain from stings. She had heard that pregnant women's spit could ease stings. And, when she mentioned this, I felt like I had heard this somewhere, too.

So I spit on the poor kid's foot.

I hope it helped even a little bit, because if she wasn't uncomfortable before, having her foot smeared with a stranger's spit could easily change the situation from uncomfortable to unbearable.

In my defense, though, I do remember a dentist of mine telling me that one's saliva gets slightly more acidic when pregnant, and he recommended rinsing my mouth out nightly with baking soda and water, to counter the effects of my more acidic saliva so it wouldn't attack my teeth. So maybe there is some truth in this, after all.

However, I still think the girl might have gotten more relief from sticking her foot in the turtle pond.