"Waste Not, Want Not" or "want and the need for waste"

I pack my husband's lunch every day. So, today, I went shopping for 'add-ins'.

I try to make sure that every day he gets at least 3 of his 5 servings of fruits and vegetables from the breakfast and lunch I make him. He usually eats most of it: between patients, or in his vehicle between hospitals (he's in private practice and works out of three).

I don't think he goes to work and trades with the other surgeons . . .

But, I also add some fun stuff. And, yes, while I realize that bulk boxes from which I dole into plastic containers would be more eco-friendly, it's just not practical. A little bag of Cheezits slips neatly into a whitecoat pocket; a bulky Tupperware container does not. Many things do get plastic boxes (like the sandwich), but not the all of the fun stuff.

These pictures represent what I purchased for him today.
Look at all the boxes!
Look at all the waste!
All of the above will just be sent to recycling.

But, I fell in love with this:

That is the entire package - just a sticker around a stack of granola bars. Ten to that package, only five to this huge box:

And all of the snacks I bought today, in their infinite boxes, all fit neatly in the snack cupboard in the pantry. In a very tiny space on one shelf.

Wow - so much waste. So much that could easily have fit into a much smaller, less wasteful packaging.

No, this isn't a blog today about environmentalism, much as it seems.

I took a deep look this afternoon at the empty waste in my own life:

• How much time have I wasted on things that never will 'fit' into my life?
• How many tears have I wasted on things which I realize now just don't matter?
• How much of my life have I devoted to people that will never 'get it'? People who will never see the real me and what I am capable of and my value and worth.

And there are many of them.

It just all seems so futile now. And I am angry, now, for waste.

Much like the hour I lose at every time change, I wonder about the other projects, other energies I could have utilized in this lost time.

My new religion - no waste.

(If you are curious, no. I can't eat these. Sugar, starch, so much to avoid - ah, food allergies.)