letters from barabbas

I finally found a deodorant that works.
It's been a really long process of trial and error, learning and growing. I went through a lot of different brands during puberty, hardly ever buying the same one twice. I needed to figure out what scent smells best with my body chemistry, and just how dry I can expect to stay throughout the day. You might not know this about me, but if you spend very much time with me you've probably noticed that my armpits sweat a lot.
I had resigned myself to this (a life of sweaty pits), convinced I had found the best protection available. Old Spice High Endurance Red Zone seemed the most intricate formula on the shelf, and while I would still sweat profusely with a healthy coating in the morning, I always smelled fresh and clean, which is what's really important to me. There are ways to conceal sweat stains, but there is nothing to disguise malodor.
So I wanted to panic when I went to Wal-Mart and couldn't find my brand. I was out. It was gone. Kaput! This was my last day. I was doomed. I didn't have time to scour the city in search of the perfect deodorant. I had places to be. Things to accomplish. Life to live. Smelly or no!
So I bought the next best thing...or so I thought at the time. It's still from Old Spice, but it lacks the fancy knob that the pushes soft, powdery solid through a tiny filter so as to allow for the most thorough coverage, the greatest absorption. It's a simple "invisible solid."
But do you know what today has been?

Dry.
I haven't sweated a drop all day. And I smell GOOD!

Sometimes we just don't know what's best for us. We think we've found what's right: far from perfect but the best we're going to get from this world. I thought I had developed the best coping mechanism available for my particular problem (sweaty armpits could at least smell good with the right deodorant), when all along the perfect solution to the problem was the next item over on the shelf!!!