The Keeper Of The Toothbrushes

     This morning Ariel interrupted an episode of Wonder Pets by leaning over the baby gate and waving two hand fulls of toothbrushes at me. "Hey.  Can you identify any of these toothbrushes?", he asked.  It was clear the whole toothbrush situation had him a little disturbed.

     "The clear blue one that says Countryside Dental is mine and....", I looked at those toothbrushes good and hard but nothing came to mind.  Not one stood out at me as an ENZO brush or a CLARA brush.  I was surprised because in the last twelve years I furnished my "brain attic" (as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle calls it in his Sherlock Holmes stories) with little more information than toothbrush cataloging, lunch box cataloging, backpack cataloging...It felt good to only know my own toothbrush.  Independent.  If Ariel's feathers were in a ruffle because the kids didn't throw out their old toothbrushes when they got new ones, well, that could be his problem.  But there he was still looking at those toothbrushes he had pointed at me.  I bit.  "What's up?"

     "There's one here that says Minoo Buchanan on it.   The other day I asked you if we had any new toothbrushes and you gave me one.  Was that it?"

      I shrugged because I didn't give him one.  I told him there was one on the middle shelf of the cabinet that hangs over the toilet in the way, way back next to some cough syrup.  I really didn't know what it looked like.  I only knew it was back there.  I was loosing interest in the disorganized toothbrush catastrophe.  I know the kids are slobs and I don't clean up after them AND I don't teach them how to clean up after themselves.  It's the story of my life.  How could I not know?  At the moment, however,  Israel, Dorothy and I were trying to see if The Wonder Pets  were going to be able to help The Cool Cat and The Hippo settle their differences.  Toothbrushes.  Wonder Pets.  Good grief.


    That's when he got to the point.  "I don't know which toothbrush is mine".

     HA.  HA.  HA.  I did NOT expect that!  Now I need to decide if I'm going to go back to my position of The Keeper Of The Toothbrushes (I could easily toss every brush in the house and start fresh, taking mental note of each brush I assign to each family member) or if I'm going to let my family take up a little real estate in their own "brain attics" with such trivial and boring information as the color of their own toothbrush.