The last time I cleaned out my fridge, I found nine bottles of salad dressing in it.
Nine.
In addition to the salad dressing, there were assorted bottles of ketchup, mustard, marinades and sauces.
And a few of the packets that come home with delivery orders and tiny containers of toppings we bring home from restaurants.
It made me shake my head.
I wonder if this is why they invented those little shelves in the door of the refrigerator.
So we could store all of our condiments and every once in awhile go through them and laugh at how many we have.
I know that I am not the only one with this problem.
We probably should create a support group.
Help encourage each other to find the strength to purge and throw away the condiments we don't really need.
Or better yet, not buy them or bring them home in the first place.
It makes me wonder why we have a habit of keeping so many.
For me, I think it stems from growing up poor. I'm guessing many of you can relate to this.
I hate wasting food, and will eat leftovers for days to avoid doing it.
Tossing food in the garbage makes me cringe. Even if it's a packet of ketchup that came in a bag with my food delivery.
And I also like to be prepared.
Having a variety of condiments available helps me feel like I'll be ready for any situation (how much salad dressing will I need for the zombie apocalypse?).
But if this stuff sits in my fridge for years, it doesn't really do me any favors either.
There's got to be a middle ground somewhere here.
There are other parts of life where this can show up too.
I have twelve bottles of body spray in my bathroom closet. You can never smell too good, right?
It seriously makes me laugh sometimes.
On the flip side, there are areas of my life where I don't have nearly enough of what I need.
Like in my garage...no bungee cords, can't ever find the right size wrench, and good luck if you need a flashlight. Those disappear as quickly as I buy them.
I'm not sure that I'll ever find balance in all areas of my life, or have exactly the right amount of everything I need at any one time.
With this busy life we live, I don't think that's even possible.
So maybe we should just embrace all of this - the too much in some areas, and the too little in others.
Keep stacking those ketchup packets in our fridge doors and buying more flashlights when they disappear.
And lifting each other up when we have an empty space to be filled.
We are all just people, and we're all in this together.
I'll bring the salad.
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