The Struggle Was and Is Real

Back in my younger days I had a paper route that had me out in the elements six out of seven days. Regardless of how pleasant or miserable the weather was, I had papers to deliver. And for the majority of the time, especially for the weekday afternoon papers, I walked my route on the north end of town. As a young kid, that was a long walk. For that matter, as an older person it would still be a long walk!

In my younger days we did not have the fancy fabrics to keep a person warm. No, if you were cold you might want to walk faster. Still cold? Too bad - keep moving and get those papers delivered. Delivering newspapers was my source of income and I had a job to do, so I did it. I was not always happy to be out freezing, but the paper route did teach me responsibility.

One tool I used to try to keep my hands warm was my reusable lighter fluid handwarmer. When it worked my handwarmer worked great. In fact, sometimes I thought it was going to burn a hole through my pants pockets. The challenge was getting the darn thing lit. I would have to spend way too many valuable minutes working to get the handwarmer lit and by the time I did, often I could have had my papers almost delivered.

Since it was so windy and cold today, when I happened upon my old handwarmer I tried to light it. Just like the old days, I struggled again to make the device work. The good news is the handwarmer is very warm and ready for me to go deliver papers. Think about it…this thing is old and still works.

Out of curiosity I checked on Amazon and a person (newspaper boy (if they still exist)) can still buy these. Plan to spend close to $30 for the handwarmer and lighter fluid! I guess I have a valuable antique on hand to warm my hands.

(Yes, I have the top and the little red bag for it.)