January 2, 2005
The First Bottled Water
When I was growing up many years ago Clorox liquid bleach came in one gallon white plastic bottles. My wonderful mother used Clorox in our laundry.
Anyway, the empty Clorox bottles were never thrown away. Mom would rinse them out really well and would fill them with water. I am talking lots of bottles of water under our old double-basin concrete utility sink in the basement.
Mom was in the bottled water business but didn't know it! I would ask her, "Mom, what is that water for?" She would answer, "If the water main breaks outside, we are all set. We will have water to do things." It sounded like a great idea at the time.
But I never ever remember us having to break into the bottled water stash. In fact as I grew older, it became a little joke around in our family and still is. Mom took the heat and never got angry. If given the chance and there was a need to use it, I imagine I would have been put on severe rations for my endless mocking of the Be Prepared Plan.
But of course the bigger issue is that I had that billion dollar future industry right in front of me the entire time and was asleep at the wheel.
Posted by Tim Carter at January 2, 2005 8:52 PM
