When I was growing up, my younger sister, Jan, was often bedridden with cystic fibrosis. I took care of her when my parents worked or were not at home. We played games and read to each other separated by a plastic oxygen tent. As confined as she was by the plastic bubble that encased her, Jan could still have fun, though she yearned for the freedom that other kids enjoyed as she watched them play together from her bedroom window.
My mom, Clare Bell Bonnett, was a nurse for forty-four years. She taught me about the risks of invisible germs. She reminded me all the time to wash my hands and showed me how to do it thoroughly, between fingers, under the nails, and around the wrists. That's where germs hide. I had to make sure my hands were clean whenever I touched Jan as she could easily get pneumonia and end up being hospitalized.
I even bit my nails so germs couldn't gather under there. I started avoiding friends who looked like they might be sick. This began in elementary school and continued to middle school. Whenever Jan went to the hospital, I worried that I might have been the cause by not washing my hands well enough.
Looking back, this was extremely traumatizing because no matter how hard I tried or how often I prayed, the risk was always there. At the age of nine, my little sister died. The Public Restroom Survival Guide is my way of honoring Jan, and my mom, Clara Bell, who was so dedicated to us both.
We’re all the result of our childhood upbringing. The fear that my germs might be responsible for someone else’s illness is why I still wash my hands at least twenty times a day. When my children, Kennedy and Cole, turned five I started teaching them how "cross-contamination" on hard surfaces inside a public restroom could make them sick. They learned the golden rule: Do not directly touch any surface.
I am still taking notes about how to prevent a pathogenic microbial colonization from forming in my home. The truth is that the very best way to protect a home is by not bringing bacteria, viruses, or spores into your home.
Most people are sadly unaware that by touching hard and soft surfaces contaminated with bacteria, viruses, and spores, that these surfaces touch us back.
I am not a scientist, doctor, or healthcare professional. I am a germ-freak, a Renaissance man who’s a proud dad with many hobbies. One is being interested in how infectious, disease-causing microbial life forms from around the globe can be transported into my home. While writing this book I realized that microbial life forms give us life and pathogenic microbial life forms take away life.