OHIO IS SO BEAUTIFUL!

 
My blog will be a little different tonight.  Instead of trash pictures, I'm going to share this one beautiful picture with you.  

My son, Jeff, lives in Apple Creek, and he has a blog, "PhotoEveryDay2024."  This picture is one of my favorites.  I've never seen a sky quite like this before.  It takes my breath away every time I look at it.  I showed it to a friend, and he said, "That's an amazing photo.  I would have never guessed it was taken in Ohio!"  

Ohio is very beautiful from Cincinnati to Cleveland and everywhere in between.  But sometimes it's hard to see the natural beauty, because there are fast food wrappers & Walmart bags, pop cans & beer bottles, cigarette butts & Styrofoam cups covering the ground.

I don't see a speck of trash in this photo.  If there was, that's all I would see.  I wouldn't notice the spectacular sky or the horses grazing.  That's what litter does.  It hides the natural beauty.

I pick up trash every day, because I want to make my city beautiful again.  To prove what I'm saying, go outside tomorrow and pick up trash anywhere and see what a difference it makes.  

I woke up this morning at 2:30 a.m.  By the end of the work day, I was pooped.  I wasn't sure I had the energy to pick up trash tonight, but if I want to reach my goal of one million pieces by the end of summer, I can't skip days just because I'm a little tired.

Before I talked myself out of it, I got in my car and drove to where I left off yesterday.  I picked up 1,213 pieces of trash tonight, and people noticed me.  One young woman, who was walking down the sidewalk, asked me how many pieces I picked up.  I told her,"I'm almost at a half million!"  She said, "Wow, that's about 120,000 pieces more than when I saw you the last time!"  (Honestly, I don't remember her.  I'll remember her the next time I see her.)

Three people in cars at the Wilbeth & Virginia traffic light yelled out, "Hey, Debbie!  Nice job!"  I can't tell you how good it feels when people know my name and appreciate what I'm doing.  And just before dark, a herd of very young children came running to help me pick up trash.  They all had something to drop in my bucket.  I told them, "Thank you so much!  I'm done for tonight, but you can help me tomorrow, okay?"

Why do kids LOVE to pick up trash?  Maybe they will teach their parents how to keep our world beautiful.