All Women

Yesterday as I walked the beach of Siesta Key, I observed the women walking up and down the beach. There were all kinds. College girls with the newest swimsuits and belly rings paced the beach hoping to be spotted by some group of college guys who were Spring Breaking as well. Thirty something Moms who had been those college girls just a few short years ago, were now chasing toddlers down the beach and digging in the sand with plastic buckets. Their discovered college guy was right beside them attempting to impress his toddler with an elaborate sand castle. A group of ladies paraded their class of 1961 shirts as they lined up for pictures on the beach. I could not decide if they were high school or college friends who had continued to spring break well beyond the spring break years. Ladies, who had left their homes in November who were still here until the spring had come to the north, passed by on their daily walks. There were junior high girls trying to hook up with a few junior high guys. One girl was ruling the roost, while another tried to edge in, and the third really didn’t care. On the public beach, there was even more variety. There were ladies with coolers of beer, there were ladies with umbrellas, and ladies with layers of tanning oil. There were a group of four college age girls who were Muslim wearing their black drapes in the hot sun still enjoying the beach. There were ladies who were trying to sneak into a pick up volleyball game and others who observed so called “cool guys” trying to boogie board on the waves. As I walked back to where I was staying, I observed five Mennonite girls in their simple ware coming out of their condominium. They were giggling and trying to decide who was going to take each other’s pictures.

I had to review the walk in my mind. All of these women were so different, yet very much alike. They all were on spring break, holiday, vacation, or winter retreat. They all wanted to be accepted and loved. They all wanted to be noticed in their own way. They were all women. The Mennonite girls were by far the most happy and the college girls were the most hip. But no matter what background, they were all women with the same needs and emotions. It was just a slice of the pie, but it showed me how much we are all the same..

Where Did the Glass Go?

Where did the glass go? Glass Coke bottles, glass medicine bottles, glass milk bottles? (I don’t remember glass milk bottles, but they sure looked cool.) I crave the old Coke, before they made it Coke Classic, in those tall skinny glass bottles. I used to go with my Dad to sell pigs, and we would each get a Coke in one of those bottles out of a special Coke machine at the hog market. That was always the most refreshing. I remember my Mother would always try and remember to take the empty cases of Coke back to Kroger to get the deposit money back before we bought more Coke. They were the best! There is not anyway to get that kind of Coke anymore. My husband recently bought me a case of the little cute bottles. They are charming and as close as you can get to the old recipe, but they still aren’t the same! Where did those bottles go? Once when I was in Mexico, I bought a Coke in a tall bottle. Did they decide that glass was bad for the environment, so they shipped all of the tall glass Coke bottles to Mexico? Why are we now using plastic? The carbonation isn’t the same and the liquid never gets as cold as it used to in glass bottles. They did away with the tall bottles, but at least they still had those shorter chubby glass bottles, that are now substituted with the plastic 500ml bottles. I really don’t like those at all!! I see people in the grocery with those hanging over their shopping cart, and I just want to say, “Please don’t buy those. Join the boycott of Coke in plastic bottles, and maybe they will hear our plea and return to glass!” But I think people are impressed that the plastic ones in the 6 packs, will hang over the sides of their carts, and I think they would probably just turn around and walk away from me or report me. Does anyone feel like I do? We have been cheated!! They have substituted a plastic bottle for the glass! Did they not think that we would notice? At first I thought that it was for the environment, but wouldn’t it be better to reuse a glass bottle over and over rather than make a plastic one and hope that someone would recycle it? (Don’t they know that really only people on the west coast and those in cities with socialized trash pickup recycle?) Most of us are just pitching the plastic bottles and they are accumulating in trash dumps all over the country. How many landfills will it take just to hold all of our unrecycled plastic Coke bottles that once held flat Coke? We could have used the glass bottle over and over again. For goodness sakes, we could have even bought our own glass bottles and just went back to get them refilled! Well, the beverage and glass industry will probably not hear my plea, but at least I have been heard by those who might dare to read my blog, and who might dare to care. Until I find the glass bottles, boycott the plastic ones!