EXPIRED MILK (EWW)

Today, January 13, 2009 as I look at my carton of milk I realize the expiration date is for today. There is nothing wrong with the milk. It smells fresh, tastes fresh, and can probably be used for a couple more days.

But
I am not one to keep milk in the refrigerator past the expiration date. I will probably get some more use out of it today and then throw it away tomorrow just because of the numbers on the carton that mean "no longer good for use."

As I think about this carton of milk other situations come to my mind that can be compared to this situation.



One thought that comes to mind is about people. There is a saying that goes something like "some people are in our lives for a season." So, if some people are in our lives for only a season, how do we know when that season is up? On a milk carton the expiration date is written there, but with people there is no exact expiration.

Or is there an expiration date with people?

Expiration dates with people could be the last time you two talk and the talk does not end well.
Expiration dates could be when you are in a room with someone but you realize looking at them does not in any way make you feel happy or even welcome into their lives anymore.
Expiration dates could be when you are no longer communicating with a person at all.

But the problem with dealing with people is how do you know of that expiration date? Does the expiration date really mean anything? Just because communication has been cut off, is that date really expired? Are expiration dates really applicable to people?

When dealing with milk the expiration date does not always mean something. Sometimes you can keep milk a little longer and it is still fresh. When milk goes bad, you really know. It starts to smell bad, may clump up, turn colors, etc. Then you absolutely know to get rid of it.

I tried to cut an old friend out of my life. We went to high school together and the end result to our friendship was horrible. To me the girl was crazy and to her and her friends I came off as heartless. After getting the strength to pull myself back up and continue on with making new friends I forgot about her (expiration date on her had expired). But like milk, the situation had not finished getting to it's spoiling point. Through the wonderful site Facebook she contacted me in my college years. I accepted her as a friend and she tried to have friendly conversation. I wasn't nice to her at all. I mean how can you befriend somebody, treat them like garbage, never apologize,and then years later think they are going to accept you with open arms? I took the situation to its spoiling point and I have not heard from her since.

Last weekend I had a conversation with a guy. He was trying to "talk" to me a couple years ago. Situation was complicated and I wasn't about to put myself in the middle of drama so nothing happened then. He approached me at a later time and shit was still complicated with him. I tried to stay friends and keep up "friendly" conversation with him through these times. We lost communication throughout these times and after the last time I did not hear from him again for a while. After not talking to him I assumed maybe he was just gone out of my life (no expiration date, just magic trick and gone). Then a few weeks ago he sent me a text. I did not even have his number in my phone anymore. We talked a little and it was cool. Then a couple of days ago he contacted me again. He started asking questions like "why'd we never kick it." I reminded him of the drama in his life. He said something real stupid after that. I had never thought of it before, but at the end of the conversation I wondered why I was even still communicating with him. In no way was he coming as even a friend. Although I understood what he was saying and what he wanted he did not seem to understand my point at all. Also, even if I had tried to put an expiration date on the situation he seems like he'll never recognize that ending date or even the spoiler point.

That goes back to my question...can expiration dates even be used on people????

Milk has an expiration date. If the date isn't a reminder the spoiling of the milk will reiterate that it is time to get rid of the milk.

People on the other hand can forgive and forget, just totally forget til they are doing the same thing over again, or just be totally oblivious to problems.