Please excuse my free-flow thoughts today. I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business, and enjoying a 'fun size' bag of m&m's. When it was empty, I folded it up the long way and tied it in a knot.
Nothing new here. I habitually tie candy wrappers in a knot. It's not a terrible habit as habits go, just a little weird. I've done this for as long as I remember, and today I started wondering when and why it started .
Was it back when we used to fold gum wrappers and insert them into one another to make long chains? Was it to make them less recognizable? Or was it just to make them as small as possible?
Then when I threw it in the trash, I got a clue.
Exhibit 1: disposable cups. Those six cups would fill half the trash can if I didn't slide them one inside the other.
Exhibit 2: plastic water bottle. I empty them, crush them, then put the cap back on so they don't re-expand.
Exhibit 3: paper wrapper from a ream of paper. Tightly twist to its smallest form.
Growing up it was a rule at our house that we couldn't throw anything large in the trash unless we weren't able to disassemble it, crush it, or otherwise consolidate it.
I think it started with my dad not wanting to take the trash out five times a week. My mother probably got tired of him grousing about it, and practiced the trickle down theory before it was a thing. Between the two of them we were trained to break down packaging so that more would fit into the waste basket so that it had to be emptied as few times as possible.
I'm probably dating myself here, but milk came in cardboard cartons back then. We had to crush those cartons, and there was a 'right' way to do it. We opened the seams at the top, then crushed/folded the bottom up so that the whole carton laid as flat as possible. You empty it, you flatten it.
Cereal boxes? Open the bottom (the top was already open of course), and flatten the box.
Remember when ice cream came in a cardboard box too? Open both ends, and flatten.
Tin cans? Make like they are Russian nesting dolls.
So, see where I'm going with this? Now, not that candy wrappers are large. They're probably the smallest things that go in a trash can. But mine are a sign of training run amok.
Nah, it's a highly efficient way of doing things. One that I was unable to pass on to my children. Probably because their father was not a willing partner in this particular training. Now Beau drives their spill-over trash to our house before our garbage pick-up day.
The end. For now.
