Deal going down in a parking lot

I got an email this week from Dave, one of the basses in Chorale Midwest, the choir I sing with. Like all of us, he'd heard about the shortages of hand sanitizer, and wanted to share some ingredients for making our own. 

As I read his email, I began to smile, and then chuckle.

Here's some of what he said:

I know there's a lot of anxiety out there with the unprecedented changes we're going through in our new world reality. I wanted to offer something small to discourage virus-passing if you have need of it, following the lead of Cedar Ridge Distillery* today. I've mentioned this to my Facebook friends as well, but Chorale is family so I'm reaching out to the membership to offer a small token towards making sure we all return safe and sound when our season resumes.

I use 190 proof ethanol for various hobby and professional things (its denatured, so it can't be used for "medicinal" purposes), and have a couple gallons on hand. This alcohol is usually very cheap, but it is getting hard to find with all the hoarding going on. No need to go Walter White on an railroad tank car to get some! 

 * for the Cedar Ridge Distillery story, go here.

Dave's email showed both generosity and a good sense of humor. In these days of social distancing, it was nice to get a message from someone from the choir--especially a cheerful, fun message like this one.

Even though I didn't really need any hand sanitizer, I wanted to connect back with Dave, to let him know I appreciated his email and his offer.

So I wrote to him to thank him but say that I didn't need any because "I am a soap and water girl."

Dave sent another good-natured and fun email back to me:

Soap and water is definitely best--I've washed so many times lately I can read old 7th grade math test notes on my palms! I only use sanitizer when I'm getting into the car (I don't have one of those fancy models with a wet bar!) and in a pinch. I've hummed Happy Birthday to myself so many times in the last week at a sink, I'm a centenarian several times over.

LOL!  And duh! My car! It would be great to have some hand sanitizer in my car, so after getting groceries, I could quickly get my hands clean, I thought. 

So I messaged Dave again, and we set up a time to meet at his workplace.

When I pulled up outside, Dave came out into the parking lot.

"So do you have the good stuff?" I joked.  "I've never actually done a handoff of chemical goods in a parking lot!" I felt a little like Walter White.

I had accidentally left one of my empty bottles at home, so he gave me some alcohol in an empty pop bottle!

It's not 7up

"Don't drink it!" he warned. (After wiping down the bottle: "you don't know where my hands have been.")

When I got home, I mixed me up some hand sanitizer with the alcohol and some aloe gel I already had.

I'll leave the bottles in our cars.

Isn't the color great?

Thanks, Dave--for the hand sanitizer ingredient, and for your cheerful good nature!