My high school experience, I’m sure, was different from the high school experience of many others. I hated everything. I was sad. I was angry. I was full of angst. I was covered in black lipstick. I hated my hair. I hated my face.

Also I wrote sad sulky poetry and had zits.

So while a lot has changed, some things remain the same. And so it should have come as no surprise (even though I’m 40 years old) that while on my most recent work trip I started to get a big fat huge painful zit. Right on my chin. Where I could feel it and everyone would be able to see it as soon as it pushed its way up from beneath my skin.

And so when I realized that a zit was about to get a face of its own on my chin and I was far away from home and 99% of the products I could choose to put on my face. And I had no idea where a drugstore was. I did what any 16 year-old girl would do in my place. I remembered the tall tales and beauty legends of my youth and put some toothpaste on it.

Two days later my giant zit is gone and my face is minty fresh. Turns out some of the things I learned in high school were true.