I hope you will enjoy this recollection of mine regarding a glimpse into a dear friend's life that I was blessed to experience in November 2001.

A friend of mine, who passed away in a tragic car accident almost two years ago, diligently washed plastic storage bags. I watched her doing this while visiting her and her husband's very rural Nevada ranch, seeing the big sinkful of soapy suds, the other sink filled with hot rinse water.

My question was, "Do you ever get to the point where it costs more in soap and water to wash and reuse the bags than to simply use a new one?"

She paused in mid-wash, her eloquent hands enrobed in soapsuds, and considered that possibility. Then she sighed deeply, shook the suds from her hands, wiped them on her apron and turned toward me with a patient smile. "Julie," she said gently, "It's over five hours, one way, to the grocery store. In addition to being frugal, I also don't want to run out."

This dear friend, this lady who was tough as nails, but a lady through and through, was a former U.S. Congresswoman from a western state (not Nevada).

She exuded gentility, yet cooked for a ranch crew of dozens, using an old gas stove that she'd considered replacing -- until she priced a new one. That made putty knives and other cleaning efforts bring about a restoration of the blackened stove to almost its original "pristineness." She never forgot that being frugal was a quality to be admired.

Her greatest adornments were her honesty and kindness, her love for husband, family and country superceded only by her love of and faith in God. She was an animal lover, her border collie named Digger still living at the ranch. She was also quite fond of Wiggles Blue Heeler (there's another story here that will go untold at this time, but it's memorable!).

No matter our station in life, we can and should "consider all the possibilities."

Julie Kay Smithson propertyrights@earthlink.net is a property rights researcher in rural Ohio's Amish/Mennonite farm country. She is quietly proud to follow in the footprints left by America's greatest Americans, from the Founding Fathers to Helen [Nichols] Chenoweth-Hage. Julie's mother also washes and reuses plastic bags, a character trait Julie is hopeful of passing on to others.

-- www.propertyrightsresearch.org.