Independence Day

To celebrate our great country this year . . . I'm going to try and save it, one florescent green HyVee bag at a time. It started with a dull blue bag, which they gave me for free one day and promised I would get 5 cents off each time I brought it back and actually used it. Apparently that's how you convince me to care about global warming - give me free stuff. I kept it in my car and actually remembered it when I would go inside to only buy a few items. I figured I would just skip it on the big shopping trips though since I buy so much.

But it turns out - it feels way too good. They say people have an actual chemical reaction from the happy feeling that goes along with dropping your change in a Salvation Army bucket at Christmas time. Imagine that, only carried in a blue cloth bag and with the curious joy that you have not just bought a can of generic pork-n-beans for one person but quite possibly saved the planet one extra hour or more for the entire world's population generations from now. Plus, it literally feels good. There was something about carrying a real live bag out of a store that made me feel chic. It added this whole earthy, textural thrill to that horrible dreaded experience normal people call grocery shopping.

So I bought two more. I plan to build my stash slowly and eventually (by the time Jake's out of diapers and we don't need the plastic bags for disposal of his toxic waste) I'll buy all my groceries this way.

I love the Fourth of July, and I wrote more about it on our Student Travel blog. I managed to include my obsession with Disney, my love for small towns, and a beautiful quote by John Adams in there. It definitely helped me get my patriotic on.