Hippie Moment

I realized today that maybe I am an actual hippie. Now, I know the term is broad, the meaning is varied, and using it is probably not even correct, but bear with me. It wasn't really the tie-dyed shirt I was wearing, the jeans with the holes, or the only every-so-often washed hair pulled up hastily in a messy pony-tail that clued me in. No, those are only outward manifestations. It was instead a very simple and ordinary brown paper bag.
This afternoon I headed to the Bellevue, WA Whole Foods in search of some gluten-free snacks (other than Fritos and Reese's peanut butter cups)to sustain me on this on-the-road eating adventure. After taking my time perusing the store, and realizing that Boulder actually isn't the most expensive place in the nation, I loaded a few things into my basket and headed to the register. The items sailed dutifully past the laser with the assistance of a burly, talkative cashier as the price of my being nutritionally-challenged soared higher on the screen. "That'll be [alot]," the burly (but not really the good kind of burly) guy said. I scanned my card, took the receipt, said "thanks," and grabbed my bag.
But wait...there in my hand were not two little delicate brown paper handles, but four. Yes four handles, two bags, and one rather confused gluten-free shopper. Let me check the receipt. Yes, this was Whole Foods, and yes, I had two bags with one inside the other.
With my mind still trying to sort all this out, it dawned on me that no one had even asked if I needed a bag. And it was then and there that I realized...I'm from Boulder. We don't ask "paper or plastic." We ask "bag or no bag (wink, wink)," and you know what to do.
So maybe I'm not a hippie. And maybe two bags are better than one. And maybe I'm just from Boulder. But in any event, it made me think...just for a moment...that maybe the tie-dyed, ever-so-slightly grungy-haired, living in a tent by choice, eating weird grains, and sometimes not taking a bag lifestyle really is me. Maybe...(wink, wink)