One thing I never leave the house without is my reusable water bottle. I have many, but my trustee favorite is the classic stainless steel Klean Kanteen 27 ounce bottle.
Sometimes people give me strange looks as I drink from it and other times, they just come right out and ask what they are thinking: “What have you got in there?” They say it with a smile (and sometimes even a little wink) like you know, I’m hiding something. Really?
Now, I’m not going to claim innocence and say I have never put alcohol in my reusable water bottle. There was that ill-fated attempt to sneak Bloody Marys into the pool at the Desert Springs Marriott. (Word to the wise, don’t try it. Those security guards don’t mess around). But really, that’s on a weekend getaway with no driving and no kids. On a Wednesday at 2:30 when I am picking up a carload of kids from school, or at 5:00 when I’m dropping my son off at baseball practice, I do not in fact have alcohol in my reusable bottle. Okay, glad we go that straight.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve spent a lot of time in San Francisco lately, and I’m pretty sure that no one there would ask me what is in my water bottle. Over half the people I saw walking around the city were toting their own reusable bottle. It was Klean Kanteen heaven and I loved it.
But here in Orange County, a mom walking around every day with a stainless steel water bottle is still suspect. I look forward to the day when it’s not. I’m encouraged by the fact that I no longer get the bewildered or annoyed looks from cashiers when I bring my own bags to the store. That's because more and more people are choosing reusable shopping bags. I look forward to the next step, when we all put down our plastic water bottles and hit the tap.
For more on the problem with bottled water and why you should make the switch to tap water, I highly recommend this video, The Story of Bottled Water. It’s worth the seven minutes to view. It’s a pretty compelling argument.
Recently, a company called Lifefactory (which makes glass baby bottles) came out with a reusable glass bottle for adults. It’s safe, non-leaching, unbreakable and best of all, just like plastic water bottles, it’s see-through.
This just might be my solution until the time (I hope in the not so distant future), that carrying around a reusable water bottle will be as common in Orange County as say, talking on your cell phone loudly in public. It will just be the norm rather than the exception.
What do you think? Do you carry a reusable bottle or are you still stuck on plastic? If you are still using disposable bottles, why can’t you give them up? Is that possible that reusable bottles can be more common in Orange County than disposable ones or am I living in a dream world?
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