Small Comforts

When we went to the store today, we found out that Walmart would no longer be carrying my favorite tea. Actually, it will no longer be carrying a lot of different teas, but specifically, it won't have my favorite. This tea is my favorite because it's both flavorful and cheap. It really needs to be both to be a favorite. If it tastes good but costs a lot of money, then it's a luxury I really can't afford.  If it's cheap but doesn't taste that great, there is no way it could ever be a favorite. This tea, however, was both. And now it's gone.

This isn't the end of the world. It's not a tragic thing that will forever alter the course of my life. It's certainly not as horrible as many of the things faced by other people today. I'm not going to pretend it is. Having said all of that, it is still the loss of one of the small comforts I had in my life and I will miss it, as I would miss any bit of comfort that is removed from me.

The little comforts in life help to make life easier. Laughter with friends. Runny jokes. Music. The way your face feels after you wash it. And of course, petting a kitty. All of these sentence fragments add up over your day and make it worth all the moments of annoyance and heartache and emptiness. For me, a nice cup of tea was another one of these comforts. I can still have tea, but no longer my favorite one. That's been taken away from me so that Walmart can move in products that are more high end and will be ignored by everyone.

Okay, seriously, Walmart, what is up with that. Poor people can't afford to buy the expensive crap you're starting to carry. The people who CAN afford it don't shop at Walmart. Why are you betraying your audience?

Anyway, I'm going to miss my tea. I loved it a lot. I also hate the fact that another small comfort is gone from my life. I'm sure I will find something else to replace it, but in the meantime, I will mourn my tea. It was good to me. It helped me through many a rough day. I'm going to miss it.