This morning my sweet little granddaughter was feeling a little sour. She was cranky, the Moonpie had her pouty face on as she incoherently fussed about something. I scooted over next to her and started scratching her back. She suddenly started smiling and purring like a satisfied Siamese.
Never underestimate the healing power of the back scratch.
It took me back to when I was a kid sitting in church on a Sunday night. I didn’t want to be there and I was pretty sure I was going to die from boredom. But, then my Mom would reach over and start scratching my back. That made everything better.
It was like some kind of childhood medicinal magic.
When I got a bit older I learned the wonder of the self-scratch. My favorite accessory was the shiny purple plastic backscratcher with the creepy looking hand. It was amazing. You could get it at Stuckey’s or any amusement park. You could also get the slightly classier bamboo version, but for me the purple creepy hand did the trick.
I’ve also scratched my back with a pencil, a stick, and a plastic fork.
I’ve awkwardly rubbed up against a wall to ease my back itch.
Don’t judge me.
One of life’s sweetest and simplest pleasures is a good backscratching. It’s unquestionably therapeutic and undeniably mood altering.
I think the world should catch back scratch fever.
I think there should be corporate back scratch breaks. Every afternoon there would be a 15 minute mandatory break, everything would shut down and everybody would break out their purple plastic creepy hands. The workplace would be a much more relaxed happy place.
Or how about world leaders getting their backs scratched while they meet about tense diplomatic matters. It could change everything. That simple act could prevent some wars. It’s hard to strut and swagger when you are being scratched.
Anyway, that’s what I think. I’ve gotta go…suddenly my back is itching.
carbonated joy 
The best back scratcher ever (non-human at least) is a spaghetti spoon! When my husband was alive, he re-purposed ours so much I finally just bought another one to use on actual spaghetti! LOL
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