Tender is the Night

 



Happy Birthday to my "baby" Andrew.  He is 19 today!  Andrew spent most of his time infancy through preschool and beyond learning about the world while playing with trains.  We knew that he knew his colors, because he could identify the various Shining Time Station trains.  The same with his numbers, the concepts of sequencing items from smallest to largest, and his letter recognition, all was based on Thomas and his friends. I knew he didn't have a hearing problem, because he could hear the word train, in a crowd of hundreds, when whispered!  He could tell someone how a steam engine worked, prior to being able to ask for a cup of juice, he was obsessed.  Since he was my child, his obsessions didn't bother me, I totally understood.

Since conception Andrew listened to Jackson Browne, it's not like he and his sister had much choice, especially while in the womb.  However, soon Andrew had a favorite song, Tender is the Night.  Andrew was certain this song was a about a train tender in the night.  So although before the birth of Andrew,  this song conjured up an vague memory( and I mean vague, the 80's are somewhat a lost decade for me) of an MTV video with Jackson walking down the street, and ending up entering a home, and ending up in bed with some attractive woman.  After the birth of Andrew, in my mind the tenderness in the night was the beauty of holding my "baby" Andrew and rocking him before bed, while he fell asleep dreaming of engines pulling into the station for the night.  Those days have been gone for years, but when I hear that song, I always smile, and thinking happily of Andrew as a baby!

When Andrew was four I was able to take him to McCormick Place to see Jackson Browne.  Just he and I, he was so excited.  It was a political rally, so there were a variety of performers, and speakers, and there was no assigned seating.  There we sat, not far fom the stage,  him snuggled on my lap, watching Jackson.  I was seeing an old friend, he was meeting a new friend.

While he patiently waited to hear his train song, and I tried to explain that Jackson wasn't going to sing train songs at this event. Andrew being persistant, would not accept that there would not be a train song. Then Bonnie Raitt joined Jackson on stage, they began singing together and the following words were heard:

There's a train every day leaving either way

There's a world you know, there's a way to go

And you'll soon be gone, that's just as well

This is my opening farewell

Andrew was so excited!  Jackson had produced a train song just for him!  If we could have added a rendition of Midnight Train to Georgia, and Chattanooga Choo Choo, it would have been a grand slam!

Day two of taking better care of our planet:

This is a bit more difficult than I anticipated.  I entered the shower this morning and there were 5 single use plastic containers. I fed the cats, their favorite wet food which is housed in a single use plastic container, I picked the newspaper off the front step, and tossed it enclosed in it's plastic bag on to the hallway floor.  I picked up my new travel cup, and removed it from it's plastic box, and then pealed the styrofoam off the bottom and washed it to start my day of using less plastic!

Once at my office, I needed a pen, so I reached for the new pens which are made of out of recycled water bottles, and had to unwrap them from the plastic cover they were secured in!  I am sure by now you get my point!

Things I have done to work towards being more Earth friendly today:

1. Purchased my meat for dinner at the meat counter, so it would be wrapped in paper.
2. Purchased laundry detergent in a box.  Felt like I was moving backward in time purchasing flakes instead of liquid.
3. Didn't purchase Andrew cupcakes or a cake, as they were all housed in plastic.  Am I going to have to learn to bake?
4. Used my eco friendly cup.
5. Prepared my pepsi cans for recycling.
6. Bought cat food in aluminum cans.

 Things that didn't go as well as expected:

1.  Left reusable bags in the car again.
2.  Spent 45 minutes in the store trying to be Earth friendly, then purchased it all, and bagged it in a plastic bag with out thinking that might not be correct!

Things I need to research:

1.  Bar shampoo
2. Bar conditioner
3. What am I supposed to do about toothpaste?
4. Refillable soap dispensers
5.  Dog chewy's in bulk, so they are not wrapped in plastic
6. Revisit the cheese cube issue
7. Must we say goodbye to gogurt!
8. What besides a plastic bottle, can the pharmacy put medication in?

Please let me know if anyone has any suggestions regarding these topics or any other ways to reduce my use of single use plastic.

I will spend the rest of the day counting the hundreds of items in my home, that are housed in single use plastic.  I heard yesterday that it is possible to make pot holders out of plastic grocery bags....maybe that will become my new hobby!