Independence, at last!

Michael bought me my own computer for my upcoming birthday!  I feel like a teenager who just got her first car, imagining all the places I can go and the things I can do.  I never had a car when I was young so I can't say I have had this experience previously, but I can feel it all kicking in now.  Michael is talking about getting his own email address.  I have to agree, it is time.  Mine is going to be full everyday soon when my article appears in the local Lewistown Argus, I hope.  That is the anticipated reaction I hope to get from it.

Repurposing.  That is a relatively new word that intrigues me with the possibilities it conjures. It works better for me than "recycling".  I know everything that has a useful original purpose eventually outlives that life.  That doesn't mean it no longer has any purpose except to be thrown out into the landfills or road ways. It means that most everything can begin a new life purpose.  

It may be from having been an elementary school teacher for all those years.  We never looked at anything that was being thrown away without thinking about how it could be used in the classroom.  Maybe a toilet paper tube to be turned into an elf or Santa.  Or an egg carton into an earring holder for Mothers' Day or a soup can for a pencil holder for dad on Fathers' Day. 

Just like us, once we retire.  It doesn't mean that once we are no longer working at a paying career our usefulness has been spent.  It merely means that our life has a new purpose, maybe just as productive as previously.  But, as with any material thing we have used and are ready to discard, we have to give some thought into how to usedit in a new way, just like the rest of our life.  Productively.  It takes effort to repurpose things and it takes effort to repurpose our life. 

So if you aren't as fascinated with the word repurpose as I am, just keep reusing the old recycling word. The important thing is use it and then use it again and again.