And All Because of Toilet Paper

I’ve been having a bit of an off week… you know the kind. Nothing really wrong, but not feeling quite 100%, the day job a little tough to take. Yet there were bright spots to the week, like getting a text message from my friends Drew and Branli about getting together for coffee as they passed by my workplace. So not all bad, not all good, just not feeling quite myself. And not feeling good about the progress on my edits for the middle grade novel because they’ve been practically non-existent this week. I’ve tried, but I’ve been too tired and I’m too close to want to force edits because I could make a hash of it.

Yesterday I noticed we needed more toilet paper (and yes, apparently I am the only one in the household who is gifted with the ability to hunt for toilet paper in the wilds of a store and successfully capture and bring it home.) I meant to stop at Walmart (across the street from work, so the most convenient place) and get some before coming home yesterday, but forgot… I won’t elaborate as to why, but will just say it has a lot to do with how the work day went. So what, you say? I am a self-confessed freak about having enough toilet paper in the house. I break out in a sweat if I get down to the last roll. It may be strange, but deal with it.

Since I felt so blah upon arrival home after having forgotten about the toilet paper, I didn’t go out and get any last night. Which was epic because we actually put the last roll on the spindle – a true indication of how off I am feeling. So today at the end of work, I did go get the toilet paper (yes, I bought two 24-double roll packs for two people in the house, what of it?) and proceeded home.

As I exited the freeway on the last leg of my homeward journey, I thought about how melancholy I felt and was having one of those “is all of the effort worth it?” moments. And there was a huge line at the stop light and it took forever to change, and all I wanted to do was to get home, get into something comfortable, and turn into a slug. To top things off, some guy in the lane next to me started honking his horn and calling out.

Yes, he honked and called to me. I rolled down the window and his first question was, “Are you the author?” What a wonderful thing to hear while waiting for a stoplight to change from eternal red to green. And before you think this guy is psychic or something, you should know that I have a magnet with the cover of Misfit McCabe on the car door. He was in the car with what I presume to be his daughter, and we proceeded to have a brief conversation about the book and he wanted to write the information down, so I grabbed a bookmark and hopped out of the car to give it to him. (I told you the light was eternal red). We shared a few more words, and finally with a green light we both moved on.

I laughed a little as I moved up to the light (no I didn’t make it through, but he did) because on the seat next to me were the two humongous packages of toilet paper, and I thought of some people I know who would have been embarrassed to have a conversation with toilet paper on the seat. Not me. If I didn’t stop for toilet paper, we wouldn’t have arrived to wait in the line at the same time and I wouldn’t have made that particular connection. So the lessons learned:

  1. You can’t embarrass me with toilet paper.
  2. Always make sure you have bookmarks to hand out with you in the car… you never know when you might need one.
  3. And when things seem dreary, something will come along to show you some light… you just have to allow it to come in.

Oh, and the pic really works for me, because I was having such an eeyore-ish moment, and suddenly the world had sparkles.

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12 Comments on “And All Because of Toilet Paper”

    1. Well, he wasn’t picking me up – especially not with his daughter in the car. Although I do recognize not all men would have the same sensibilities…. but maybe, just maybe, he might pick up my books… and that will make me a very happy camper.

    1. Thanks hon. And NO you’re not the only one… but you may be the only male of my acquaintance who understands the importance of the TP stockpile.

  1. Wow – I totally get everything in this post – from that vaguely blah feeling to the need to stock pile toilet paper. Seriously, when the forecast calls for snow storms everyone else runs out for milk, bread, etc. Not me. I can survive the snowpocalypse just fine without those things but I have been known to brave the elements to ensure that I have enough TP.

    I’m glad that someone took the time to turn your day/week around – that must have been awesome to have him asking about your book! And now that little girl can tell everyone she actually met a real author – in traffic. 🙂

    Also? Another lesson/reminder for me:

    Everyone has a story. Everyone is fighting their own personal battle and sometimes all it takes is a very simple kindness to turn things around – even if it’s just for that moment.

    1. I know what you mean. The man didn’t have to keep honking the horn & yelling at me… but I’m so glad he did. Sometimes it is that little act of kindness that takes you so little that will totally turn someone’s day around. We don’t get to know these things in life as far as how we impact others, but we can take the lesson for how others impact us and apply it. 🙂

  2. Blerg. Okay. So I guess I’m not the only one that has off days…weeks…months. Now I just need to wait for the sparkles.

  3. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that I have PLENTY of days when I don’t feel myself, and most of the time, I can’t even tell you why. I’m happy that you able to experience a positive, uplifting moment to redeem a “not so great” afternoon. Oh, and what is this? Am I the ONLY person in your Twitter posse who doesn’t live on the west coast?!

    1. We ALL have those days… but somehow tend to think we’re the only ones who have them. It is especially nice when something random and so uplifting happens to turn the day around.

      And NO you’re not the only one NOT on the west coast. I have peeps in CO, MO, IL, IN, PA, MA, TX, and the list goes on… including Canada, Singapore, Europe, etc. I’m very chatty.

  4. I’m hopping over from Carolina’s blog and the pic of Eeyore sucked me in (HUGE Eeyore fan here). Anyway – I felt like I was reading about me (minus the author part). I have those days and I am the only one in my house with toilet paper radar (and full trash and empty box in the freezer…I digress) and I often want to turn into a slug. Self-defeat at stop lights has become a daily afternoon feature. But there always seems to be someone to show me the light. Today it’s you! Great post. Thanks!

    1. Thanks for stopping by & I love that Eeyore pulled you in to read this post and that you identified with it. I think everyone must have those moments (well maybe not the toilet paper, full trash, empty box ones – obviously, or they wouldn’t exist). And I keep trying to remind myself when they happen that all I need to do is look around & I’ll find inspriation somewhere. Sometimes that’s hard to do. Glad you found some light here.

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