Bag Lady

I had good intentions. I really did. I bought reusable bags at the supermarket. I used them too. But not for groceries. Then I discovered that they aren't particularly durable. Or washable. Which, unfortunately, rendered them somewhat less reusable. And my good intentions? Well, let's just say, when combined with the mountains of paper grocery bags I have been accumulating, you could pave a road with them.

 



 

I know it's shameful, but I kind of like paper bags. I like the way they smell. I like that unmistakable paper bag color. I like the way my dog gets all excited when we walk in the door with groceries because she knows we will give her a paper bag handle. And boy does she love them! When I was a kid, paper bags were considered our family's signature wrapping paper. They remind me of presents. And they remind me of making covers for school books. Covers that I would decorate with sharpies or pens or smudgy pencil. I love the way kids see a world of possibility in a paper bag. And the way they can put them over their heads without me having to launch into a panicky lecture about the dangers of suffocation. I like that I can pull a paper bag over my head now to hide my blushing.

 

Maybe my fondness for paper bags got in the way of properly giving them up. Or maybe it's because I always forget to bring reusable bags to the grocery store. I would like to blame myself but I prefer to blame the stores. If stores didn't provide these loveable paper bags I would surely remember to bring bags of my own. At least after the first couple of times I walked out of the store with a bunch of bananas balanced on my head, my arms loaded with eggs, bread and milk, kicking a cantaloupe like a soccer ball in front of me.

 

Since the supermarkets seem inclined to enable this paper bag habit, I have only myself to hold me responsible. And I do want to be responsible. I want to be a different kind of bag lady. I will make cloth bags that are sturdy and washable. I will bring them with me to the grocery store.  

I will fill them with more than good intentions.