20 Things You Can Recycle

From sandwich bags and bras to Crocs and crayons, there’s a whole lot more than bottles and cans that can be recycled.

Melissa Breyer

Thu, Apr 04 2013 at 3:14 PM

In 2010, Americans generated nearly 250 million tons of trash. At first glance that may not seem like such a terrifying figure, but look at it this way: That’s 500,000,000,000 pounds of solid waste. Remarkably, 34 percent of that is composted or recycled. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, for each of the 4.43 pounds of trash that each American creates every day, 1.51 pounds of that, on average, is composted or recycled. 

Which is a start, but landfills fill up, and there are only so many parks we can build over massive parcels of buried garbage. The good news is that reducing our personal garbage loads is becoming increasingly easy as more programs are being created to help us. With that in mind, the following 20 household items may seem destined for the dump but they can actually be recycled — and easily.

1. Athletic shoes

Tired, broken-down, “fragrant” running shoes are most generally directed to the trash, but given our penchant for kicks, that’s a lot of sneakers stinking up the landfill. A better future for your athletic shoes is to introduce them to one of Nike's Reuse-A-Shoe recycling bins. Nike in turn will incorporate them into the raw material called Nike Grind, which is used in everything from running tracks to shoe soles to zippers.

2. Bicycles

Americans send more than 15 million bicycles out to pasture every year. But rather than throwing them in the dump, you can give your old two-wheelers a second life by donating them to Bikes of the World, which collects, refurbishes and donates bikes to lower-income people and select institutions in developing countries.

3. Bike tools and gear

With a similar mission to Bikes of the World, Bikes Not Bombs takes bicycle bits, pieces, and gear in addition to the bikes themselves. They accept parts, tools, broken components such as cracked frames, worn tires, tubes with holes, helmets, bags, lights, pumps, locks, cycle clothing, etc. They restore bikes and gear, and deliver them overseas to economic development projects in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Bikes that don't get shipped often land in the group's youth programs where teens learn bicycle safety and mechanic skills while earning bikes to keep for themselves.

4. Bras

There comes a time in every bra’s life when it just has to move on, and bras aren’t generally the kind of clothing we women toss in the "to donate" pile. But the Bosom Buddy Program, started by a textile recycling company in Arizona, wants your weary bras. After sprucing them up, they donate the revamped brassieres to women’s shelters or other programs that help women gain self-sufficiency.

5. Brita water filters

Ditching plastic water bottles for filtered water is a resourceful move, even if you are left with spent water filters. But if you use Brita products, you’re in luck. They have teamed up with the company Preserve, and between the two, they are recycling Brita plastic pitcher filter casings into Preserve's eco-friendly, 100-percent recycled products such as toothbrushes, cups and cutting boards. Also cool: the activated carbon within the filters is regenerated for alternative use or converted into energy.

6. Carpeting

When it comes time to reveal the lovely hardwood floor buried underneath that mod shag carpeting, find a carpet-reclamation facility to take it for recycling. You can also check withindividual carpet makers, many of which have recycling programs.

7. Compact fluorescent light bulbs

The mercury content makes CFLs a trickier disposal problem than basic bulbs, leaving many people confused about what to do with them once the light has been extinguished. But now both Ikea and Home Depot provide CFL recycling programs, and other lighting stores are also beginning to accept these bulbs as well. If neither of these chain stores are nearby, see 5 ways to dispose of old CFLs for other ideas.

8. Cosmetics

Cosmetic packaging probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when considering recycling, but compacts, tubs, tubes, and other containers can be easily recycled. Various companies have their own programs, including: M·A·C Cosmetics, Origins and Aveda, to name a few. (You can also avoid packaging altogether by making your own.)

9. Crayons

This may sound crazy — clearly crayons aren’t public enemy number one – but with 120,000 pounds of crayons produced each day in this country, the landfills could become surprisingly colorful. Fear not, the National Crayon Recycle Program will recycle your rejected crayons and turn them into new ones. So far, the program has diverted more than 88,000 pounds of crayons from landfills.

10. Crocs

Love them or hate them, the molded petroleum-based foam shoes that seem best suited for emceeing a circus are here to stay; if not in fashion, at least in the environment, given the enduring material from which they are made. But the company that everyone loves to hate has done something good with the formation of Crocs Cares, which recycles used Crocs into new shoes and donates them to underprivileged families.

11. Eyeglasses

There is something profoundly counter intuitive about throwing out old eyeglasses, it just doesn’t feel right; but how in the world can we recycle old glasses?  It’s actually quite simple, and better yet, they can be reused by people in need. The Lions Recycle for Sight program collects used eyeglasses and cleans them before sorting by prescription strength and distributing them to people in developing countries. They accept prescription and reading glasses, sunglasses and plastic and metal frames. Children's glasses are especially needed. Drop them in a Lions Club dropbox or send them by mail, here’s how.

12. Hair dryers

Hair dryers usually have a decent lifespan, but once they need replacing, what to do with the old clunky beast? Folica.com is one option for recycling; the company accepts mail-back dryers and will issue a $40 credit towards the purchase of a new one.

13. iPods

If you bring your old iPod to an Apple Retail Store, they will take it off your hands and also give you a 10 percent discount on the purchase of a new one.

14. Mobile phones

Currently, only about 10 percent of cellphones in the U.S. are recycled; and while some components require proper hazardous waste disposal, other parts are highly recyclable. There are many charities that accept old phones for recycling. See a list of mail-back programs at earth911. And if you have an iPhone, you can return it to Apple for recycling; if the device is eligible for re-use, Apple will give you a gift card for the value.

15. Packing peanuts

Polystyrene packing peanuts, oh how they perplex! The masters of static cling areparticularly problematic because they take up a lot of room, waste-wise, and they fail to biodegrade. Fortunately, they don’t lose their packing prowess upon being reused, so many shipping companies will take them back. Try Mailboxes, Etc and UPS, you can also find other drop-off locations at loosefillpackaging.com.   

16. Pantyhose

The global hosiery market is expected to reach $20.3 billion by 2015, and given pantyhose’s propensity to so easily render itself unwearable courtesy of snags and runs, there is a seemingly endless stream of pantyhose finding their way to the trash can. Fortunately, there are many ways you can reuse retired pantyhose, and when all else fails, you can recycle them. No Nonsense legwear company accepts all brands of nylons, knee-highs and tights and recycles the material to be used in carpet, anchor rope and park benches. Get a mailing label here.

17. Plastic dry-cleaning bags, bread bags, produce bags, etc

Some municipalities have fantastic curbside recycling options for plastic, but others don’t. If you live in the latter, there’s a secret that too few people know about. Nearly any plastic bag or plastic wrap can be deposited in the grocery bag recycling bin at many supermarkets. For more details, see Recycle sandwich bags, dry-cleaning bags and more.

18. Prosthetic limbs

Prosthetic pieces aren’t generally reused in the U.S. due to legal considerations, but don’t let those fake limbs go to waste! Some organizations arrange for prosthetic components to be disassembled and shipped to Third World countries and to be used for landmine victims and others. Check these organizations, each of which can accept donations depending on their current needs.

19. Resealable sandwich bags

Few items create more inner turmoil for eco-moms than zipper-style sandwich and freezer bags; for many they embody the sinful duality of being both wonderfully indispensable yet easily disposable. For those who can’t give up their resealable bags, you can now recycle them at any of more than 18,000 in-store recycling centers. And you can even earn reward points for doing so. For details, see Ziploc launches new recycling program.

20. Wine corks

Yes, cork is biodegradable and in the big picture, bitty little wine corks are perhaps not the most vexing of items to warrant recycling. But if you consider that in the U.S. alone we consume more than 850 million gallons of wine, you realize that the corks can really start to add up — and there are only so many DIY coasters and homemade memo boards one house can handle. Fortunately you can send your corks to places like Yemm & Hart or recork.org, who will kindly take them off your hands to create new products.

George Saunders's Commencement Speech

George Saunders’s Advice to Graduates

By JOEL LOVELL

It’s long past graduation season, but we recently learned that George Saunders delivered the convocation speech at Syracuse University for the class of 2013, and George was kind enough to send it our way and allow us to reprint it here. The speech touches on some of the moments in his life and larger themes (in his life and work) that George spoke about in the profile we ran back in January — the need for kindness and all the things working against our actually achieving it, the risk in focusing too much on “success,” the trouble with swimming in a river full of monkey feces.

Damon Winter/The New York Times -- George Saunders

The entire speech, graduation season or not, is well worth reading, and is included below.

"Down through the ages, a traditional form has evolved for this type of speech, which is: Some old fart, his best years behind him, who, over the course of his life, has made a series of dreadful mistakes (that would be me), gives heartfelt advice to a group of shining, energetic young people, with all of their best years ahead of them (that would be you).  And I intend to respect that tradition.

Now, one useful thing you can do with an old person, in addition to borrowing money from them, or asking them to do one of their old-time “dances,” so you can watch, while laughing, is ask: “Looking back, what do you regret?”  And they’ll tell you.  Sometimes, as you know, they’ll tell you even if you haven’t asked.  Sometimes, even when you’ve specifically requested they not tell you, they’ll tell you.

So: What do I regret?  Being poor from time to time?  Not really.  Working terrible jobs, like “knuckle-puller in a slaughterhouse?”  (And don’t even ASK what that entails.)  No.  I don’t regret that.  Skinny-dipping in a river in Sumatra, a little buzzed, and looking up and seeing like 300 monkeys sitting on a pipeline, pooping down into the river, the river in which I was swimming, with my mouth open, naked?  And getting deathly ill afterwards, and staying sick for the next seven months?  Not so much.  Do I regret the occasional humiliation?  Like once, playing hockey in front of a big crowd, including this girl I really liked, I somehow managed, while falling and emitting this weird whooping noise, to score on my own goalie, while also sending my stick flying into the crowd, nearly hitting that girl?  No.  I don’t even regret that.  But here’s something I do regret:

In seventh grade, this new kid joined our class.  In the interest of confidentiality, her Convocation Speech name will be “ELLEN.”  ELLEN was small, shy.  She wore these blue cat’s-eye glasses that, at the time, only old ladies wore.  When nervous, which was pretty much always, she had a habit of taking a strand of hair into her mouth and chewing on it.

So she came to our school and our neighborhood, and was mostly ignored, occasionally teased (“Your hair taste good?” – that sort of thing).  I could see this hurt her.  I still remember the way she’d look after such an insult: eyes cast down, a little gut-kicked, as if, having just been reminded of her place in things, she was trying, as much as possible, to disappear.  After awhile she’d drift away, hair-strand still in her mouth.  At home, I imagined, after school, her mother would say, you know: “How was your day, sweetie?” and she’d say, “Oh, fine.”  And her mother would say, “Making any friends?” and she’d go, “Sure, lots.”

Sometimes I’d see her hanging around alone in her front yard, as if afraid to leave it.  And then – they moved.  That was it.  No tragedy, no big final hazing.  One day she was there, next day she wasn’t.

End of story.

Now, why do I regret that?  Why, forty-two years later, am I still thinking about it?  Relative to most of the other kids, I was actually pretty nice to her.  I never said an unkind word to her.  In fact, I sometimes even (mildly) defended her.  But still.  It bothers me.

So here’s something I know to be true, although it’s a little corny, and I don’t quite know what to do with it:  What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. 

Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded…sensibly.  Reservedly.  Mildly.

Or, to look at it from the other end of the telescope:  Who, in your life, do you remember most fondly, with the most undeniable feelings of warmth?  Those who were kindest to you, I bet.  It’s a little facile, maybe, and certainly hard to implement, but I’d say, as a goal in life, you could do worse than: Try to be kinder.

Now, the million-dollar question:  What’s our problem?  Why aren’t we kinder?  Here’s what I think:

Each of us is born with a series of built-in confusions that are probably somehow Darwinian.  These are: (1) we’re central to the universe (that is, our personal story is the main and most interesting story, the only story, really); (2) we’re separate from the universe (there’s US and then, out there, all that other junk – dogs and swing-sets, and the State of Nebraska and low-hanging clouds and, you know, other people), and (3) we’re permanent (death is real, o.k., sure – for you, but not for me).

Now, we don’t really believe these things – intellectually we know better – but we believe them viscerally, and live by them, and they cause us to prioritize our own needs over the needs of others, even though what we really want, in our hearts, is to be less selfish, more aware of what’s actually happening in the present moment, more open, and more loving.

So, the second million-dollar question:  How might we DO this?  How might we become more loving, more open, less selfish, more present, less delusional, etc., etc?  Well, yes, good question.  Unfortunately, I only have three minutes left.

So let me just say this.  There are ways.  You already know that because, in your life, there have been High Kindness periods and Low Kindness periods, and you know what inclined you toward the former and away from the latter.  Education is good; immersing ourselves in a work of art: good; prayer is good; meditation’s good; a frank talk with a dear friend;  establishing ourselves in some kind of spiritual tradition – recognizing that there have been countless really smart people before us who have asked these same questions and left behind answers for us.

Because kindness, it turns out, is hard – it starts out all rainbows and puppy dogs, and expands to include…well, everything.  One thing in our favor:  some of this “becoming kinder” happens naturally, with age.  It might be a simple matter of attrition:  as we get older, we come to see how useless it is to be selfish – how illogical, really.  We come to love other people and are thereby counter-instructed in our own centrality.  We get our butts kicked by real life, and people come to our defense, and help us, and we learn that we’re not separate, and don’t want to be.  We see people near and dear to us dropping away, and are gradually convinced that maybe we too will drop away (someday, a long time from now).  Most people, as they age, become less selfish and more loving.  I think this is true.  The great Syracuse poet, Hayden Carruth, said, in a poem written near the end of his life, that he was “mostly Love, now.”

And so, a prediction, and my heartfelt wish for you: as you get older, your self will diminish and you will grow in love.  YOU will gradually be replaced by LOVE.   If you have kids, that will be a huge moment in your process of self-diminishment.  You really won’t care what happens to YOU, as long as they benefit.  That’s one reason your parents are so proud and happy today.  One of their fondest dreams has come true: you have accomplished something difficult and tangible that has enlarged you as a person and will make your life better, from here on in, forever.  Congratulations, by the way.

When young, we’re anxious – understandably – to find out if we’ve got what it takes.  Can we succeed?  Can we build a viable life for ourselves?  But you – in particular you, of this generation – may have noticed a certain cyclical quality to ambition.  You do well in high-school, in hopes of getting into a good college, so you can do well in the good college, in the hopes of getting a good job, so you can do well in the good job so you can….And this is actually O.K.  If we’re going to become kinder, that process has to include taking ourselves seriously – as doers, as accomplishers, as dreamers.  We have to do that, to be our best selves.

Still, accomplishment is unreliable.  “Succeeding,” whatever that might mean to you, is hard, and the need to do so constantly renews itself (success is like a mountain that keeps growing ahead of you as you hike it), and there’s the very real danger that “succeeding” will take up your whole life, while the big questions go untended.

So, quick, end-of-speech advice: Since, according to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving: Hurry up.  Speed it along.  Start right now.  There’s a confusion in each of us, a sickness, really:selfishness.  But there’s also a cure.  So be a good and proactive and even somewhat desperate patient on your own behalf – seek out the most efficacious anti-selfishness medicines, energetically, for the rest of your life.

Do all the other things, the ambitious things – travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes, swim naked in wild jungle rivers (after first having it tested for monkey poop) – but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness.  Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial.  That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality – your soul, if you will – is as bright and shining as any that has ever been.  Bright as Shakespeare’s, bright as Gandhi’s, bright as Mother Theresa’s.  Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous place.  Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its fruits tirelessly.

And someday, in 80 years, when you’re 100, and I’m 134, and we’re both so kind and loving we’re nearly unbearable, drop me a line, let me know how your life has been.  I hope you will say: It has been so wonderful.

Congratulations, Class of 2013.  I wish you great happiness, all the luck in the world, and a beautiful summer."

Making Change Happen

             Making Change Happen: A Three-Fold Strategy

To turn the human course, change the framing story, create a new reality, and change the rules.

by David Korten

posted Aug 01, 2011

This is part thirty-one of a series of blogs based on excerpts adapted from the 2nd edition of Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth. I wrote Agenda to spur a national conversation on economic policy issues and options that are otherwise largely ignored. This blog series is intended to contribute to that conversation. —DK

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Photo by William Hartz

As explained in my New Economy 2.0 blog on “The Story of a New Economy,” the power of authentic culture stories gives civil society the ultimate advantage in the contest for the human future. Stories alone will not, of course, bring down the institutions of Empire. Nor should we welcome the inevitable chaos that the collapse of Empire will bring if we have not first laid a foundation of the new rules, relationships, and institutions of a New Economy.
Social systems self-organize around ideas and relationships. They are living, complex, dynamic, and constantly evolving as they and their members learn from shared experience. The organism, not the machine, provides the appropriate metaphor. The relevant knowledge resides not with outside experts but with the people who populate the system. The challenge for those who strive to be agents of transformational change is to help members of their group, community, or society recognize, organize, and use that knowledge in ever more effective ways.
Through the dynamics of societal scale social learning processes, people innovate, create, and learn to relate in new ways that enhance their shared well-being. Individual learning translates into community learning that translates into species learning.
The overall process has three primary elements that frame a powerful societal-scale change strategy.

1. Change the defining stories of the mainstream culture. My previous New Economy 2.0 blog made the case that “Every Great Social Movement” begins with an idea carried forward through conversations that challenge and ultimately displace a prevailing cultural story. The civil rights movement is changing the cultural story on race. The women’s movement is changing the story on gender. The environmental movement is changing the story on the human relationship to nature. Through public presentations, books, magazines, talk shows, and the Internet’s many communications tools, millions of people are now spreading stories of the possibilities of a New Economy.
2. Create a new economic reality from the bottom up. Many of those who have been inspired by some aspect of the New Economy story are already engaged in initiatives that are building the foundation of strong local living economies. They are establishing and supporting locally owned human-scale businesses and family farms that create regional self-reliance in food, energy, and other basic essentials. They are moving their money to local banks and credit unions, retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, and changing land-use policies to favor compact communities, reduce auto dependence, and reclaim agricultural and forest lands. By creating a new reality on the ground their actions open opportunities for new personal choices, demonstrate the possibilities of the new story, and build a base for effective political action.
3. Change the rules to support the values and institutions of the emergent new reality. The rules put in place by Wall Street lobbyists put the economic rights of global financiers and corporations ahead of the economic rights of ordinary people, place-based communities, and even nations. As we change the story and build appropriate institutions from the bottom up, we gain the political traction needed to change the rules to support democratic self-determination at the lowest feasible level of systems organization.

Successful social movements are emergent, evolving, radically self-organizing, and involve the dedicated efforts of many people, each finding the role that best uses his or her gifts and passions.
My life path has led to a somewhat unusual interconnected engagement with all three strategic elements. I participated in founding YES! Magazine to communicate the stories of human the future it is ours to create and serve as its board chair. I am a founding board member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, which supports communities across the United States and Canada in growing the New Economy from the bottom up. And I co-chair the New Economy Working Group, which is framing and advancing a New Economy policy agenda.

Social systems self-organize around ideas and relationships. They are living, complex, dynamic, and constantly evolving as they and their members learn from shared experience.

Social movements grow and evolve, not through top-down direction, but around framing ideas and mutually supportive relationships. New ideas gain traction or not depending on their inherent appeal and utility. As individual groups find one another, new alliances may emerge or not, depending on what works for those involved in the moment. Some alliances are fleeting; others endure.
As social movements develop, multiple sources of leadership are essential. There are many individuals and organizations whose work incrementally influences the whole. Any individual or group, however that presumes to be the leader of the whole or aspires to organize a central coordinating body to impose order on the chaos does not understand the process. Self-organizing chaos is integral to the movement building process and essential to its success.
[Next: Are You a Culture Worker?]

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David Korten (livingeconomiesforum.org) is the author of Agenda for a New Economy, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, and the international best seller When Corporations Rule the World. He is board chair of YES! Magazine and co-chair of the New Economy Working Group. This Agenda for a New Economy blog series is co-sponsored by CSRwire.com and yesmagazine.org based on excerpts from Agenda for a New Economy, 2nd edition.
Interested?

• 10 Common Sense Principles of a New Economy
  David Korten on the foundations of a wholly different economy.
• The Next American Revolution?
  What America's current movement against corporate power can learn from that time we overthrew a king.

• Agenda for a New Economy available from the YES! Magazine web store.

70th Bday - Jonathan

7/15/2013 (Jonathan Bender)

There are mountains that have not been climbed

There are seas that have not been sailed

There are roads that have not been walked

Much beauty lies in the mystery of things

The goal at the beginning is the pursuit

The goal at the end is the mystery

I was once buried in the pursuit

By bearing witness to others’ journey 

I learn to witness my own

No journey has done more for me than yours

Through you I see the value of perseverance,

Of pragmatism,

Of community,

Of creativity,

Of adaptability,

Of devotion,

Of compromise,

Of refusal to compromise,

Of love,

Happy 70th

May you have many more.

-Your son

Happy 70th

Life on the Verge of 70

It is time to celebrate old age--

Well, middle old age, which begins with seventy years.

We ask where did the time go?

Our parents, children, friends, siblings, occupations, habits, and loves

Ate it up.

Memories fade and leave a space for inventing the past.

Endurance until you make it through gives way

To making a way around.

We ask where did our energy go?

Time for a nap.

Love was intense, passionate, and daring when we were young.

We are grateful for the love we have instead of love we want.

As we notice others have slipped on the banana peel

We pretend it cannot happen to us

And lose it all.

We set out to save the world from conquest of the greedy.

We were powerful, mostly in controlling ourselves.

We created a life to launch our children

Caves under blankets, sports, drama, music, and peers,

The DNA for grandchildren.

Our bodies were able to sustain the blows of all comers.

We recovered from accidents, fatal illness, and worn parts

Through grit, wisdom, and the mystical unifying force

That led us to healing people and health again.

How many chances?

What is left for two people who already have it all?

We have been to the mountain and the depths of the Grand Canyon.

Striving for ourselves is over, to give to the Creator in service

Of a world on the verge of life or death.

What’s next?

To Nate With Love and Honor

For his seventieth birthday

Sandra

Brother Reuben

Brother Reuben (1942 - 2007)

Oldest of the ‘Bender Boys Three,’

Leader of the pack became his first calling.

He was ever in action, exploring all to which he had access,

Held captive by his proclivity for romping in the great out doors.

Sedentary, contemplative doings were not his forte,

Rather, the application of his restless spirit and precocious physicality.

Plagued by seasonal allergies,

Hay fever symptoms were found to disrupt his sleep and energy.

Grade school offered little to support his active nature,

Even escaping via an open window....prompting parental intervention.

An early exit from high school - three days were enough!

Created new freedoms and responsibilities

Mingling and working with and for local adults,

Led to a laudatory work reputation and a path to alcohol addiction.

Before he was eligible for a drivers license, 

Two arrests led to a long term friendship with a Highway Patrol Officer!

Purchase of a horse, motor scooter, car and motor cycle,

Expanded outlets for his spirit, with support from the town banker.

Purchase of a 1960 Chevy replaced an older 1951 model, 

Both used to retrieve his high school siblings from games and practices.

A foray into stock-car racing, via a reconfigured 56’ Chevy,

Led to multiple trophies and respect from his competitors.

All the while, defying his father’s disapproval,

He created a stamp of approval via surrogate figures.

His strong-willed manner often belied his social shyness, 

Yet never hid his generous heart and honest nature, most endearing. 

Unprepared and unskilled for marital life and step parent-hood though he was,

He met its challenges, albeit with varied results, loved by many, while hurting a few.

Though lacking common interests, we were able to bond through the years,

Making his early departure less of a grief-filled time, knowing he is in a better place.

Brother Nate - 7/15/2013

Turning Seventy

Turning Seventy

    (7/15/2013)

Passing years have gone so fast,

And evolved into a present day septuagenarian stage.

Noting markers of the advancing years,

Signals a more urgent call for disciplined living,

With everything in moderation.....dietarily, physically.

Holding past memories ever closer and vivid,

I embrace the struggle to capture them for posterity sake.

I revel in the reality “it’s been a good life, all in all,”

And continue to drift to new discoveries and new directions.

People who have touched my life, friends and family circles alike,
Wide and diverse......I salute them all.

Acknowledging the many joys, the fewer sorrows,
All essential parts of learning and growth experiences.

Holding a dearest and deepest place.....my marital union,

Augments, in profound ways, the coalescence process,

And serves also, as catalytic fuel for future expansion possibilities.

Continuing the work till the end of life,
Self discovery and its accompanying phenomenology shall prevail,

Welcoming the future with anticipation and hope.

Bring on the rest, for it may just be the best yet!

Nate Bender