These days I’m trying  as much as possible not to use my hands. 

As a kid, I remember that shortly after I learned how to ride a two wheel bike, I learned to ride it with no hands on the handle bars. 

When my mom came out of our house, I yelled from the street, “Hey look, Mom. No hands!” 

Right now I’m trying every trick in the book to keep from touching things just so I don’t have to wash my hands. The backs of my hands have been getting rough, sore and chapped from all the hand washing.

I even resorted to putting some lotion on them a couple of times. It was that serious. 

To provide a little relief, I’ve figured out ways to do things that don’t require hands. 

I push doors open with my shoulders, and when a door is half opened I chicken wing it the rest of the way. … If you don’t know what I mean by “chicken wing” it, that’s just sticking out your elbow to pry the door open.

I’ve been wearing gloves a lot too – not because it’s cold, but so I don’t have to touch things with my hands. 

On the few occasions I’ve had to go into a store, I’ve kept my gloves on the whole time. Then when I got to the cash I used the tap feature on the key pad with my Apple Watch. 

I never had to touch a thing. 

I don’t uses railings anymore either. It’s all hands-free for me. I’m just glad I’m agile enough not to need to steady myself up and down the stairs. 

I saw a hand washing demonstration on YouTube the other day and it was amazing. The guy made hand washing look like an art form. 

He had latex gloves on and took some black shoe polish or something to rub on his hands to simulate soap. You could see, as he was working it into his hands, the spots that he was missing. But then he used Olympic style hand manoeuvres to get at those often missed portions of the hands. 

When he was done, his latex gloves were completely black.

But to be honest, I can’t remember a couple of the advanced techniques he used to make sure he scrubbed the part of his thumb just below the knuckle. 

I have to say, my method has been paying off for me. I haven’t used hand lotion for three days and the backs of my hands are returning to their soft and supple state. 

I’m not saying I’ve stopped washing my hands. Believe me, I’ve been singing Happy Birthday and Mr. Brightside (Roman Josi version); I’ve been counting steamboats and checking my watch.

All I’m saying is I’m going out of my way to give the backs of my hands a break.

Here’s the thing:  Even if you’re living hands-free, you can still be coughed on. Someone can still sneeze in your presence and you’ll get infected. If you ask, people will tell you they try to live a good life and therefore feel that God should let them into heaven. The thing about trying to live a good life is that we aren’t perfect. We sin and therefore get infected by it. God is holy and perfect. The only way a sin-infected person can have anything to do with Him is to first have the virus taken away. That’s what Jesus did on the cross. Just ask Him for the vaccine – it’s called forgiveness.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How is your isolation going? Leave your comments and questions below.