What does the acronym T.P. mean to you? For the majority of us, toilet paper comes first to mind, right?

And when you think of toilet paper, you may also think of using toilet paper to “TP” a house? I took this picture a few months ago because I could not believe that toilet papering still occurred. Truth be told, when I was growing up we called it called “T.P.-ing “ and I didn’t connect the dots that it was an acronym for toilet papering. I actually thought we were using toilet paper to make “teepees” all over a person’s yard. Yes, I was that adorable. I remember my heart racing as we snuck out of the house with our TP rolls, quickly (and as quietly as possible) making a mess on some victim’s property and running like heck to get back into our sleeping bags safe and sound. What a thrill!

Like I said, I had no idea that people were still “T.P.”-ing houses. I thought that in this day and age all the environmental activists would completely shame this behavior and most importantly, I didn’t even know if kids still had sleepovers. I mean, with the grueling extracurricular activity schedules and social media/texting taking over live interactions, I wasn’t sure if kids were doing that anymore. Are kids still having live and in-person fun together or are they sitting at home on their cellphones having text conversations? If they’re still talking face to face then I am so glad to hear it. Bring on the TP!

Ha! Ha! Yes, of course I know that kids are still having sleepovers but I also know that the activity of “T.P.”ing is very rare these days. So rare that my kids would be mystified if they found out that this is something I did for fun because it goes against everything they have been taught in their lifetime. Not mention it’s opposite of what they know about me. I’m thinking that “T.P.”ing is a thing of the past and most likely, it won’t make a come back. So I think it’s time to…drumroll please?…

UPDATE the acronym “TP”, “TP” ing or “TP” ed from toilet paper to Thoughtful Pinching or Thoughtful Pinched? For example, I would love for people to say, “Today, I TP’ed my daughter and she felt loved.” Or “I started a TP using the Thoughtful Pinch app and I hope Hailey gets the s’more kit soon!”. Or “That Pauline, she’s always TPing her cousins!”.

I wonder when Larry Page and Sergey Brin started Google, if they ever thought that Google, as a noun, would become a globally used verb. Examples include: Need to know how many lakes are in Minnesota? Just Google it. Or “How did you know that?” “Oh, I Googled it.”

Well, I’m putting it out in the universe today that my hope is for thoughtful pinch to be used globally as a noun/verb also. Right up there with Googling, Facebooking and Instagrammed. Doesn’t the phrase, “I just TP’ed someone today.” have a nice ring to it? Change is good. Please help me change the meaning of T.P. from something in the past (messy) to something currently thoughtful (endearing). Otherwise, if you don’t help me, you may have a bunch of toilet paper teepees in your yard tomorrow morning. I’m just saying.

Pinches,

Barb