Past Prime

The tulips that once filled my house with springtime are looking a little tired right now ... a little past their prime. With the sunlight backlighting the thinning petals, they seemed to take on an ethereal quality ... a different shade of beautiful.

Past prime is an ongoing theme in my life. I am that person who keeps and eats the yoghurt a few weeks past the "best before" date. My taste buds and nose tell mr if it is edible or not. I peel off the outer layers of the drooping lettuce to get to the surviving leaves inside. I peel off the little bits of mould on the cheese and slice off the rotting end of a potato to spare the good bits. Call me crazy but I just can't bring myself to waste what appears to be good food. I can't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I just don't pay too much attention to those important expiry dates. After one of our famous famjams at which my sister had been helping with the clean up, I opened the fridge to find the entire two shelves on the door empty - devoid of all salad dressings. I stood there puzzled and then checked the garbage bin. BINGO! There was my entire collection of salad dressings. Efficient sister was quick to inform me that she had to throw them all out because they were well past due. I frantically started rummaging, examining each bottle, "This is mainly oil and vinegar. Oil and vinegar don't go bad." I was clearly in denial.

And my laissez faire attitude once burned my family ... after we inadvertently used outdated sunscreen on vacation in the Dominican Republic. We burned to a crisp on our first day in the sun.

After dispensing some outdated Tylenol (the five year rule) to Kidlet, I am almost reformed. I pay closer attention to expiry dates and don't impose my relaxed attitude towards freshness on others.

But I still look to salvage the best, and leave the rest.

From the vase to the compost pail, the petals still retain an element of beauty.