The garbage at the condo goes into a large bin just a bit south of my unit. It is a short walk and one I don’t mind at all as long as our prairie winds aren’t blowing 50 clicks.
One person in the household creates little garbage and mine is usually contained in a plastic bag like you get from the supermarket.
Those handy bags are used and re-used in my home, consequently I never gave it another thought the other day when I walked to the garbage bin and threw in two bags that were sitting near the back door. I started walking home and then like a lightning bolt it hit me. One of the bags contained my library books!
Oh dear. That bin stands as high as I am and there wasn’t a tall man within blocks. So, practical Pat went back home, opened the garage and pulled out a five-foot red ladder she has. I felt like a fool as I leaned it against the bin and hoped no one was watching, then I climbed up the ladder and luckily the library bag I’d thrown in was on the top of various things too gross to mention. I reached in and retrieved it.
A few minutes later a car rolled by and gave me an odd look. I guess I looked strange wandering around with a plastic bag and a five-foot red ladder.
Sometimes we throw out the good with the bad. In retrospect I have probably done this more than once. Finding lost articles in places that had no right to contain them. It is a mystery at times.
The little red ladder has been a part of my life for over 20…well maybe 30 years. When we owned the travel agency, I painted it red and then used to display all the Mickey Mouse characters we had purchased in Disneyland. It was an eye stopper and the kiddies loved it. When we moved into the condo I almost gave it away. What could I possibly have to fix in a brand new unit? But it joined many other things I refused to give up…my old camping stove, the small electric drill, yard sticks (does anyone remember yard sticks?) and at least one dozen decorated tins that I send out to folks with Christmas cookies (and yet I never seem to run out of them.)
Our last Friday Bible study suggested that we should focus more like Jesus did. He had a project…to save the lost and he stuck to it. Perhaps if I had concentrated on getting the garbage to the garbage bin and my books to the Library I wouldn’t have been caught looking like a fool climbing up a five foot ladder beside the garbage bin.
So I will try and take this scatter-brain senior in tow and see if tomorrow I can stay out of the garbage, out of trouble and focused more on my earthly and my heavenly endeavors.
Photo by Kasharp (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
