My dearest toilet paper,

My dearest toilet paper,

I must confess, I have taken you for granted.  You are something that I never really appreciated.  I just expected you to be there when I needed you.  You would sit among the shelves, so many different brands and different sized packages.  I could go down the paper goods aisle and casually toss you in my basket.  If I carelessly forget you, I could always log onto Amazon and have you delivered the very next day.  

I sit here and fondly remember the good old days...……… and yes I mean less than a month ago.  The days when COVID 19 was not a household name and the only topic filling our news media.  The days when running out of toilet paper was never a fear.  

Even as the media reports came in, showing the bare paper goods aisles, I was not scared.  Come on now, we live in America.  These people are silly and the shelves will surely be restocked tomorrow, or at minimum within the week.  Wow, how wrong I was.

I am so grateful that my case of coveted toilet paper was delivered from Amazon, just days before the pandemic.  Although as the days go by and the supply remains scares, even I am beginning to wander.... will we run out?  How long can the supply remain so limited.  I never thought I'd see a day when the toilet paper shelf spots would sit bare and every online realtor would be sold out.  

Sure you can find listings, where fortune hunters, who have hoarded a huge supply of toilet paper now dangle the rolls like carrots.  They are pricing these rolls for amounts in which, would allow them to see ridiculous profits.  These predators are out there praying on the scared.  

It is truly my hope that the suppliers catch up and we can once again find a soft package of toilet paper among the store shelves.  That we can once again casually toss a package in our cart, but not before giving it a little hug.  

I hope that the predators are stuck with storage units filled with toilet paper that they can no longer sell for exurbanite prices and that we can once again give our money to our retail stores once more.  

I never thought I'd pray for normal, but here I am, just praying to get back to the good old days.