What would you say if you walked into your kitchen after a long day at work only to find your favorite beef jerky, chips and soda thrown into a box? To make the situation worse the box was labeled “Donate.” Do you re-stock your pantry? Would you hide the box in the garage for safe keeping? In a panicked moment I said, “Hi darling! What are you up to?” Without even glancing my direction, Kamille replied “getting rid of some junk.” I am use to her donating all our old clothes, house decorations, and anything else we don’t use anymore but she was about to donate my favorite food! I thought this was going to be another one of her “phases” so I gave her a kiss and let her continue what she was doing.
Well, that was 5 years ago. The phase has never ended.
We started out by donating all our food, cleaning supplies, and she even gave up her coveted MAC make up. (That was when I knew she was serious.) Our pantry was filled with whole wheat, legumes, quinoa and all the fresh fruit and veggies we could eat. I didn’t understand why Kamille was going to such an extreme to live organically. I tried to understand but I didn’t get it. One thing I did get was a hard time from my co-worker for smelling bad on a hot summer day. He asked me if I was out of deodorant and wanted his new stick. I told him yes because I didn’t want to explain to him that my Old Spice had been replaced by Pit Putty made by Bubble and Bee.
Kamille continued to set goals so we could “reduce our footprint. We replaced all our light bulbs and put a cozy warm blanket around the water heater. I knew she was passionate about this, I continued to support her. One day she got teary as she read an article to me about The Great Garbage Patch. I thought she was over the edge and might need psychiatric help.
Two years into our new lifestyle I noticed Kamille was clipping coupons for some Huggies Pure and Natural Diapers. I asked her teasingly if she was going to put our future child in organic diapers. She answered, “thats why I started changing our lifestyle a few years ago. I don’t want to bring a child into a world full of toxins and chemicals. My intention has always been to bring our child into a lifestyle of conscious living. I want to set an example to the people around us to take control of the life they are living and products they are purchasing.”
That’s when the light bulb went on for me!!!
Now that we have a beautiful little girl, Berklie. I can see how the changes we made 5 years ago have impacted our current lifestyle. Living organically isn’t weird like I first thought. It is living life to a higher standard. I am proud to support companies that have the same outlook as I do. Thats why I buy organic. The guys at work still give me a hard time about our lifestyle but its all out of fun and positive intentions.
One topic I won’t get into is our compost bin. Lets just say, “Its still a work in progress!”
