Loyalty may be overrated

As I sat on the toilet this morning (yes, I came back after a 5 month hiatus for this) I sat looking at the empty toilet paper roll which NOBODY (and by nobody I mean nobody with a penis) bothered to replace.

I began thinking about our brand of toilet paper. And about brand loyalty. And how fiercely attached we are to the brands we use. No one uses Skippy AND Jif. No one drinks Tropicana AND whatever the hell the another orange juice brand is since I only drink Tropicana.

But maybe we need to be mostly loyal. Have your preference, sure, but be flexible enough to have a plan B. Sometimes you've got to settle for quilted softness instead of cottony softness.

Recently I've been having a lot of talks with my son about brand loyalty as it relates to friendships. He tends to be a bit too brand loyal. And by that I mean he has one or two friends and that's it. He's done as far as he's concerned. No need to look any further.

But, what happens if there's a falling out, or silly banter turns surly or mean? It's happened to him several times so it's not an unrealistic possibility. We get nervous that he's only one bad experience from sitting by himself in the lunchroom, because he hasn't bothered to make other friends.

Friendships are a form of brand loyalty, aren't they? But as grown ups we recognize that you must make room for other friendships, or a bare minimum people you could grab a cup of coffee with.

Why?

Because things like this happen:

I got hooked on Fage greek yogurt last year. Couldn't get enough of it. Sure there were other options, but who needed those when I had my yummy tub of Fage plain yogurt. Until one day I scooped into it and found a feather. (Sorry other Fage lovers). Well color me a Chobani girl now.

There have been occasions where I've found feathers in my friendships--metaphorically of course--unless I was close with a cockatoo in which case it's not at all implausible, but I'm not. I'm petrified of birds.

And it sucked, but I had other options. They may not have been my Skippy or Tropicana, but some grew to be. That's all I want him to understand. It may be hard at his age, and hard for his personality type, but it's important for him to get it.

So next time you use your particular brand of toilet paper, or spread your favorite peanut butter onto your preferred brand of bread make room for the possibility that you may want to have a plan B.

Except with orange juice, you should drink nothing but Tropicana.