As many of you may know, my parents recently sold their house. I went over to their place on Sunday, May 5th to lay claim to all the furniture and other stuff I might want. In going through some drawers in the kitchen looking for my cool "jelly jar" glasses with Archie, Fred and Barney and Bugs on them, I managed to stumble into Mom's medicine cabinet there in the kitchen. What did I find? Some genuine 20th century antiques, I guarantee you that.

The cabinet contained many garden-variety medicines: a blister pack of Contac, a bottle of Advil. A few of the medicines had expired in July or September of 2001. But that's OK - most people have a few medicines that are a bit out of date. But then I dug further and found some pure gems. A bottle of Maalox that expired in June 1985. A card of Benadryl that expired in October 1988. A tube of Lanabiotic that should have been used by April 1986. But as a dug further, I found even more:

A Bottle of Kaopectate that expired May 1st, 1981. That's right - it expired twenty years ago. Mom had another bottle of the stuff, and this one expired on December 31st, 1983. 

It's a bit hard to read (the zoom on my camera ain't great), but there it is: "Expires: May 1, 1981".... just over a month after Reagan was shot!

Here's the saddest one of all!  I used to go to a dermatologist back in 7th grade.  This is one of the "roll-on" containers of salicylic acid that he used to prescribe for me for my acne. Just think - when I was given this Men at Work were topping the charts, albums still came on vinyl, cars didn't have cup holders yet and Papa Ron was still in office!  

Well, well. Lots of fun at my mother's expense! But I did learn something though. She also had a small bottle of Gum Spirits of Turpentine, and she swore that drinking a half-teaspoon of it will make your period start immediately. I had a hard time believing her, but she swore it was true. So ladies the next time you're late, end the anxiety and try to keep down a half-teaspoon of turpentine!