Shelf Life

 

Upon the advice of a travel nurse, I got a Hepatitis B vaccination today. The nurse told me:

“You’ll need two more shots, one in a month, one in six months and that should last the next 20-30 years.”

 

It’s time to get our house painted and the painter predicted the job would last another 20 to 25 years. 

 

I’m due to buy a new bottle of tabasco sauce.

 

And so the alligator with its ticking clock came closer and announced, “According to our shelf life predictions, this will be your last shot, house paint and bottle of tabasco sauce.”

 

Though my Zen teacher lived until 108 and I’ve known a few others to surpass 100, I suspect that’s about right. More and more I’ll encounter these shelf-life predictions in my daily life. Not yet at the green banana stage, but the numbers will have their say.

 

Meanwhile, my sixth day of music class subbing yesterday, each as glorious as the last, a shelf life that has yet to expire. Tick tock, tick tock.