Still Cutting Down Trees to Tell You Thanks

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When visiting our old home in the deep South a few years back, a friend of my neighbor did something kind for my daughter.  It was sweet, unexpected and though small, I’ve never forgotten the gesture.  When we got home from our trip, I did what my mother would expect of me…I wrote the woman a thank you letter.  Reportedly, when she received the letter, she informed my neighbor, also a long-time Southern gal, and then asked her, presumably in that think drawl, “Now…where’s she from again?”

I’m from Montana.

Not Montgomery.

But I was tickled that for a moment, someone might entertain the notion that I was born south of Mason-Dixon.

This month I have encouraged you to reduce your waste by reconsidering your magazine subscriptions, turning old baby blankets into hankies, and turning off unwanted junk mail.  But I still require the mail man to make that 90 degree right turn onto my walkway every week for two reasons:  insurance paperwork and personal correspondence.

I’m no Luddite when it comes to communication.  I still use text, Facebook and email far more than I would like to communicate daily, sometimes hourly it feels.  But I love sending personal mail.  If only because my Mommy made me do it so many years back.  I keep a pretty perpetual calendar (thank you Etsy!) on the wall in the dining room with names of people I want to write on their birthdays.  I’m usually a few days late and have yet to get it them all out every year.  But I keep up with it and hope my girls are watching me actually do one thing positive.  Can hand-written letters make up for “I’m sorry I forgot to make you lunch, Mommy was on Facebook all day?”  I don’t go out of my way to find card made of pre-recycled  material but maybe I could…

Those burned hands were just plain “Mommy FAIL”.

Insurance:  my youngest burned her hands and I don’t want to miss any premiums or overpay any co-pays, so hard copy is the best option for me.  No more on this topic because nothing ruins a morning like dwelling on health insurance.  But most certainly a Zero Waste FAIL.

UPDATE:  4/15/14

ZW Win?  While trolling thrift stores today looking for a flower pot, I came across…an entire section devoted to old greeting cards and stationery.  New favorite find.  Of course, while I was there, I also found some old tupperware, a juicer for $2, hand weights, a framed picture of a chicken.  But no flower pot.

March 27, 2014

About Me

About Me

I’ve been passionate about combatting blind consumerism since 2008 and joined the Zero Waste movement by starting this blog in 2013, soon after my second child was born. I think it might have been trying to unwrap a toy or someone’s attempt to sell me a butt-wipe warmer that put me over the edge… read more

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2 Comments

  1. IronMike

    Your poor little one. But every mom has to have one of those horrible stories. Ask me sometime about our grand idea how to get the puppy to stop nibbling Lucy's legs. Epic parenting fail.

    Reply

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