Out with the old, in with the new

This is a story about a toothbrush, not just any old toothbrush, mind you. Let me digress a wee bit.

For quite some time, I have been after Bob to throw out the toothbrush he has been using and has been using for so long it is quite frayed and despicable, to say the very least. His pat answer is always, "But I like it, and it just fits my teeth." (whatever that means).

We always get a toothbrush from our dentist after each dental visit. So it isn't that we don't have a tooth brush around. In fact the one he was using was a baby toothbrush, for a 2 year old. He said it was his very favorite toothbrush. We have a holder on the wall above the lavatory where both of our brushes hang. These newfangled toothbrushes seem to be big in the middle and even with much pressure, they are impossible to fit in the hole. Well ... he didn't have any trouble with the baby one, but it had such a small head and brush that it would simply fall through the hole. I noticed every time he tries to hang up his toothbrush it would invariably fall through, but I never heard him complain about it.

Last summer, I went to one of those liquidator stores that have everything from soup to nuts. As I was browsing around, I came upon a stack of toothbrushes, as I began to check them, one stood out, it had the name "Bob" on it, and had a nice thin handle that would fit perfectly in our holder. What luck, I also ended up with several other purchases. When we got home and I put things away, it must have gotten lost in the shuffle and I forgot all about it.

The other day as I was hanging up my toothbrush, I looked at his and thought how pathetic. And then a little bell went off and I remembered the "Bob" toothbrush. So I rummaged around 'til I located it.

I told Bob that I had a new toothbrush for him and it was very special, it had his name "Bob" on it. He looked up from the paper he was reading and looked at me with much skepticism and said, "Whose toothbrush was it?"

Now to understand that question, you must remember that I am a thrift shop and garage sale guru. And he thought I was foisting a used toothbrush off on him. Now let me tell you, that really tickled my funny bone. I really considered telling him it was only slightly used and that there was a lot of good "teeth brushing" in it. But then I thought better of it, because if I told him I was just kidding he would never believe me, or even consider it. So I quickly located it and brought it out, still sealed in its container and showed him he now had his own personalized toothbrush. Well that seemed to appeal to him and he said very begrudgingly that he guessed he could give it a try. So I laid it on the bathroom sink beside his old one. When he tried it, he then put it in the holder and it didn't fall through and he said, "I am never using that old toothbrush again, all it did was fall through the hole and I am sick to death of trying to fit it in." And God said, "Well done good and faithful servant."