Items from actual grocery list in cart? Check. Labels: how green is green enough? paper or plastic, humor, random domesticity
Decision made about brand of toilet paper? Check. (why is this so hard? side note- my guys have only one request--- no recyled paper product TP... they KNOW it isn't actually recycled Toilet Paper- but paper that's been recycled and made into TP... but they just can't get over the hint of recycled-ness in this case Takes a LOT to gross out my guys--- but this does it. ;)
Coupons remembered, and used? Check.... (Well ,I remembered I had a couple in the bottom of my purse- I get credit for those;)
Child not permanently harmed due to parental paranoia and desire to avoid purchasing 500 candy bars...(PUT THAT DOWN!) and same child still in possession? Check.
Debit Card located, and ready to use? Check. (I can't be the only one with a weekly panic attack because I can't find my debit card... can I?)
Major impulse purchases avoided? Check. (well... mostly.. I think I may have a problem with magazines....)
Just when I thought I'd safely navigated through a trip to the grocery store without incident... it happened........
"Paper, or Plastic, Ma'am?" Asked the boy at the end of the lane...
We shall, for now, ignore the entire "Ma'am" portion of the statement. (It deserves it's own post) For now- let's focus on the guilt inducing question: "Paper, or Plastic?" As in bags. For what felt like forever- I stood, mouth agape and debit card in hand.... In shock and fear. My mind went 1,000 directions at once.
"Paper? Is it recycled? How many trees will I destroy? Plastic? Is it recycled? Is it recyclable? From what source? What chemicals were used in it's making ???? Is this a trick question?" It feels like a set up.
The pressure and weight of the decision was crushing my brain. I felt like a character in an old cartoon.... a giant vice squeezing my head--- it's handle being cranked by a teenaged grocery bagger--- his cartoon voice echoing maniacally as he asks over and over...."Paper or Plastic, MA'AM??????"
All I could think of was why didn't I bring my big blue Ikea bags... perfect for toting so much.... or the cool handmade morsbag I'd been gifted. But, no, I was all worried about toilet paper grocery lists and coupons. I was more concerned about keeping from killing my clepto-kid, (Hey- he doesn't ASK me to buy things--- he PUTS them in the cart... isn't that stealing?) than the good of the Earth... "Can I phone a friend? " I wondered if 411 would have Al Gore's number....
I must have mumbled plastic...Because that's what I got. But- even now..... I'm stressed over the results... it takes 1000 years for a plastic bag to break down??????? and 50 years for a tree to grow to harvest size???? Trees produce oxygen..... I like breathing.... Sheesh. The guilt. Either way.
Next time- I'm taking my own bags... (If, I remember) I don't need the stress;)
So- how bout you? Paper or plastic... or whatever they got? What do you say????
I personally believe (now I sound like a beauty pagent contestant) we should be good stewards of the Earth- as God created it and has given it to our care... but what does that mean? Does it mean Paper? Or Plastic? I couldn't find either one mentioned in the bible.Genesis 1:26-31 (NIV)
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
For now- for us...it means paperbags--- or bring my own... I think. Trees seem more renewable than plastic is degradable...
I also think it means I need some chocolate.....to recover. ;)
PS---- The one thing I have no guilt over- is having used disposable diapers... I'm just that selfish! Besides- they probably saved my guys from watching their mother have a total breakdown over washing and soaking diapers... just sayin;)
Sheesh- can't I just go to the grocery store without drama? Apparently, not.
