So, Mom Goes Green just returned from a nice, long vacation at the OBX with my fantastic family! There is nothing like fresh ocean air each and every morning, noon and night. We experienced everything again this year… from dunes to surf, to sun to moon…
Surely I didn’t leave my green principals behind. We conserved (lights off, no waste), we recycled (more on that in a moment) and simply enjoyed the purity of a beautiful environment.
Truly, after evaluating our trip, I feel no guilt. We were honestly conscious not to be wasteful (especially three minutes after arriving in our condo and experiencing a power outage!). We made sure not to waste energy or over-consume — from lights to waiting for a full dishwasher — and even purchased all of our usual organic food and earth-friendly products.
We recycled absolutely everything too. This ended up being much to the dismay of my dear husband who was sent to deliver our recyclables to the local recycling center on the morning of our departure and, as he approached with an ENORMOUS industrial-sized bag of recycling, was informed that “they must be sorted”… ewwww, (*heavy sigh*) … he had to pick each and every item from the bag and place it in the proper receptacle… and for me (*smooch, smooch*) he did it, and nothing met the trash can!
I could go on and on about all of our practices but, for me, the shining moment was when I took time to sneak to the beach in the late-night, moonlit hours while everyone else was fast asleep and stood there, awestruck. How amazing and peaceful.
With the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy… I felt so lucky that this planet actually ALLOWS us to live here. Really… everything we need, in perfect harmony, supplied by this beautiful planet (see, I told you it would sound cheesy!) but the moon and the waves… just me and an empty beach… truly, I invite you to take a moment, stop, and just think about it. It’s pretty incredible that LIFE can be so generously sustained here.
THAT is why I do what I do… I refuse to abuse this “gift”… thank you, Mother Earth…
Did you stay at the same condo? Blake was looking for your kids! I told him you guys might not be down there the same time as last year. We go the 3rd week in July EVERY YEAR! He was very disappointed they were not there to play.
And you might be proud of me…I went back to my school and I signed us up for terracycle.net! We are collecting those drink pouches, ziploc bags, chip bags, candy wrappers, etc. for upcycling.
Kim – Hi!!! We weren’t back in the same place this year… went to another condo just a short jaunt south on the beach in KDH! We should have walked up to try to find all of you, but we were actually there the last week, so I guess we would have missed you anyhow! Tell Blake we all said hello! …. and I am VERY proud of you for your Terracycle Brigades… I have the kids’ school doing the same! BRAVO!!! Stay in touch!