Paper on the Seat

My mom told a story once about how when her mom would cook a roast she cut it in half and then put both halves in the pot.  My mom asked her mom why she did that and her mom said because that's how her mom (my mom's grandma) did it.  So my mom asked her Grandma why and the grandma said because her pot is too small to fit the roast uncut.  The moral of the story is that some times we pass down something for no good reason.  (I've since heard similar stories from other tellers and wonder now if my mom wasn't just personalizing an urban fable or if it indeed happened.)

A few years ago I noticed that in the restroom in my work building women would come in and out so fast.  I commented to my husband that it seems like all these women must not be putting paper on the seat.  He asked me why I put paper on the seat.  I explained that was how my mother had taught me so that I wouldn't catch anything.  Then he asked what diseases were communicable via a toilet seat. Well, none that I could think of.   Probably when my mom was a little girl in the 1940s when less was known about disease transmittal, that was a reasonable practice.  She passed it down to her children and didn't question it.  

I wonder how much of my life I wasted putting paper on toilet seats.  Every time I go to a public bathroom I feel so free now, almost a little bit rebellious.  Sometimes I still put paper or a liner down if the seat looks questionable but it is so nice not to have to worry about it, especially if I'm at the swimming pool or some other hot day when I'd have to worry about the paper sticking to my legs.  How much of my life have I now reclaimed!