Frustrations of Living in a Plastic World

  
  With the new school year starting next week, my work felt we could use some acupuncture to help us relax and meditate (picture above).  This was a new experience for me and I felt a little nervous.  It was not as painful as I had imagined and once the needles were in my ear, I couldn't feel them. We listen to relaxation exercises and then we were done.  Being that I was so close to my local grocery store and relaxed, I felt confident that I could give shopping there another try. All I needed was deli meat, how difficult could that be, right? 

   I walked, very sure of myself, to the deli counter and asked for a pound of turkey with no plastic.  The lady behind the counter starred at me with a blank expression. I continued and said, "Can I please have a pound of turkey only wrapped in your paper?" She said she had to ask someone because she wasn't sure. While she was gone a line was starting to form, and I was trying not to feel embarrassed as she came back with a manager. The manager said they could put it in a plastic container for me and I explained that I did not want the meat in plastic and only the paper.  They looked at each other and then the manager said, "Oh, why don't we wrap it in saran wrap? Is that ok?". I explained that saran wrap was also plastic and if they weren't allowed to only wrap it in paper I would pass. The manager felt that wrapping in paper was not safe. I'm not sure why, so I again left Food Lion empty handed. I felt very frustrated and embarrassed with all of the head shakes and eye rolls I was seeing when I left the line. When I got home I expressed my frustrations and my oldest son said, "Mom, keep your head up! Remember we are taking on the world one plastic straw at a time!". I love my children's motivation and dedication to this project. 

*Even though the acupuncture needles will not go into our waste bins because they needed to be disposed of properly, they will still be in my weekly waste count.