Toilet Paper Politics

 

I bet you thought this blog would be about whether the paper should unroll from the bottom or top?

It isn't. My husband likes it from the top. I don't care. It's about another aspect of the family toilet paper decisions.

I unrolled the new roll of toilet paper and thought WOW. Thick. YES, YES, YES! 

My husband does the shopping, so I seldom complain about any of his purchases. Since he makes sure we always have enough toilet paper, I never said anything about the thinness. He always humored my need to have back up. Once, he created a toilet paper wall for me after I worried we were running out filling 20% of the bathroom. Had it fallen, they might never have found whoever was buried under it -- a good memory

Turns out he doesn't like the thick but prefers the "soft" thin paper. 

Marrying late in life and having lived on two different continents for years before we married, we have developed different habits and likes. This does lead to questions such as why did you do (fill in the blank)? After nine years here, he begins to take European things as natural. I've been out of the U.S. for 30 years this September, I find some U.S. things exotic.

The thick/thin discussion reminded me what I don't want is newspaper for toilet paper. Yup, newspaper.

I was a new bride in the 1960s and had just joined by first husband where he was stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. He had found a room for us within an apartment of a German couple. The other roomers were a tech student, an actor, and a secretary for Disney. We shared a toilet. 

The landlady refused to let us use toilet paper from the PX, which my co-tenants would have preferred, to the torn up Stuttgarter Zeitung she insisted on. It didn't take long for the toilet to be clogged. I learned to try to hold my body functions as much as possible. We did find a flat as fast as possible.

In any case, it is an issue that adds to our relationship which is great through "thick and thin."