At the grocery store this week, I accidentally picked up Charmin Ultra Soft Smooth Tear toilet paper.
It had been a long month. My dog died and I lost my job. I spent $400 on lottery tickets, only to receive a $25 return. My computer exploded and my third toe on my left foot fell off of my body. Literally, clear off the body and we don’t know why (or where it is now).
I got home from the store and took a roll of Charmin Ultra Soft Smooth Tear toilet paper out of the bag, thinking nothing of it. I thought I had just bought a casual bunch of $45 toilet paper. I had no idea that my choice would have such a profound impact on me.
Sitting down to take a quick pee before I met with my attorney (my neighbor is suing me), I began to cry. Nothing had any purpose anymore. I didn’t even have all my toes. How could I go on?
I reached for a few squares of toilet paper and suddenly, everything came into clear view.
When I tore the Charmin Ultra Soft Smooth Tear scalloped-edge toilet paper, a sense of ease washed over me.
Something so frustrating, so exhausting as tearing a piece of toilet paper became so easy. I screamed with glee.
I began tearing one, then two, then five squares of toilet paper. I threw each up into the air like confetti. Charmin Ultra Soft Smooth Tear scalloped-edge toilet paper brought a childlike sense of wonder into my heart.
Things could be easy.
Life was full of beautiful surprises.
I flashed back to my birth, seeing doctors around me, cheering with joy as I burst onto the Earth. Then I saw my mother being born.
And her mother. And her mother before her.
Charmin Ultra Soft Smooth Tear scalloped-edge toilet paper reminded me that we’re all connected, for far too short a time.
There was no sense in passing my days with angst and melancholia.
I could be truly happy, again.