Worth Repeating

I've been reading through a compilation book of NPR's "This I Believe" essays. I like it because I rarely agree with the authors and I've always been better at figuring things out about myself by first identifying what they aren't.
I have 2 dog ears in the entire book - identifying the essays I wish I had written. The rest are food for thought and not much more.

Last night, I read "Always Go to the Funeral." You can read the entire essay here.

But here's the part I wish I had written:

"Always go to the funeral" means that I have to do the right thing when I really, really don't feel like it. I have to remind myself of it when I could make some small gesture, but I don't really have to and I definitely don't want to. I'm talking about those things that represent only inconvenience to me, but the world to the other guy. You know, the painfully under-attended birthday party. The hospital visit during happy hour. The Shiva call for one of my ex's uncles. In my humdrum life, the daily battle hasn't been good versus evil. It's hardly so epic. Most days, my real battle is doing good versus doing nothing.

In going to funerals, I've come to believe that while I wait to make a grand heroic gesture, I should just stick to the small inconveniences that let me share in life's inevitable, occasional calamity.

Thoughts on conservation

I consider myself pretty conscientious when it comes to conservation.
I turn lights off when I leave a room.
I don't let the water run while I brush my teeth.
I'm lazy when it comes to recycling, but I've thought a lot about how I need to step it up a bit in that department (does that even count?)
Water conservation is probably the biggest impression I have from my one year as a girl scout. I think about it a lot.We don't recyle our shower water or anything, but I really do attempt to scrimp when it comes to pouring perfectly good water down the drain.

Or so I thought.

Then I spent the weekend camping in a trailer.
It was our first time out in mom & dad's camper. I did not participate in filling it up with water. I had no idea how much water it really held. We did dishes, flushed, and gave Ben a bath. The whole weekend, I wondered "do we have enough water for this?" I even had separate water for drinking. And we used the public restroom most of the time. But still I worried.

Because I knew the water supply was finite.

So I used water differently.
I scrimped for real.

And I realized - I attempt to conserve water at home because it's what I'm supposed to do. Not because I recognize our water supply as finite. And it is.

It's true even when camping within site of seemingly never-ending Lake Michigan.
It's changed the way I conserve even at home.
I think everyone should spend a weekend with a limited water supply - it makes a difference.

And those are my thoughts on conservation.

Hi

The name's Sara.
Without an H.
I've got a lot of grace in this.
Usually.
But 4 years, umpteen e-mails, and a whole lot of in your face no-h-ness later, I've had it.


Thanks.
I feel better now.