BAG LADY

My son Alex put the bag of leftovers from the restaurant on the counter. “Do you want me to put these in the fridge?”

“You can put mine in, thanks.” I tossed my jacket on the chair.

My husband Steven took his container out of the bag. “I think I'm going to finish mine now.” he opened the silverware drawer and pulled out a fork.

Alex took the other two containers out of the bag and put them in the fridge. Then grabbed the bag they'd come in and was about to ball it up when I cried out. “Don't throw that away! It's a perfectly good bag. I can use that!”

Alex looked over at Steven and just shook his head as he handed me the bag. I very gently folded it up and placed it on the counter. “I'll put that with the other ones when I go to the laundry room.

Steven looked over at me. “Okay, I get reusing the gift bags but come on.” he looked over at the plain white bag I'd just put on the counter. “What are you going to use that for?”

“For the same thing we just used it for!” I picked it up afraid that one of them was going to toss it when I wasn't looking. “What if we have guests over for dinner and we want to send home some leftovers?” I held up the bag. “This is perfect!” I tucked it under my arm. “It's certainly better than a plastic grocery bag.”

Steven looked over at Alex who shrugged his shoulders. “Hey, it's a bag. If it makes her happy.”

I smiled at him. “It does make me happy.”

Alex leaned against the counter. “Okay, I get the gift bags and the plain bags but what do you do with the store bags you're always saving? I never see you using them.”

“Are you kidding?” I shook my head in disbelief. “I'm never using them again. I'm just keeping them.”

Alex looked confused. “What?”

“Look, I'm not saving just any store bags.” I sighed. “That would be silly. But when you get a bag from Tiffany's or say Louis Vuitton, the shopping bag is just as important as what you purchased!”

Steven eyes widened. “You bought a Louis Vuitton bag?”

I sighed again. “No, I'm still hoping to get one of those. I was just giving you an example.”

I watched as Steven sighed with relief. He got up from the table and put his fork in the dishwasher.

“When I travel and buy something from a cute little shop and they have a really nice shopping bag I keep those too because...” I shrugged my shoulders. “I don't know, I just like them!”

“So you just keep them?” Alex still looked confused.

“It's called collecting.” I explained to him.

“Some people call it hoarding.” Steven said in a low tone as he passed Alex to throw the plastic container in the trash.

“Wait!” I cried as he opened the trash bin. “We can reuse that!”

Steven looked down at the plastic container he held in his hand. “Are you serious?”

“Very.” I took it out of his hand and put it in the top rack of the dishwasher. “It's the perfect size to freeze extra sauce in!” I looked over at Alex. “When you're finished with your leftovers don't forget to put your container in the dishwasher too.”

Alex just nodded and looked over at Steven.

“Hey, you two should appreciate my recycling skills.” I leaned back against the counter and crossed my arms. “With all the money I'm saving on gift bags and containers maybe some day I'll get that Louis Vuitton!”