TONIGHT, I HAVE A HEARTFELT POST

 

All my posts are heartfelt, but this one is especially personal.  

I was feeling sad today.  Yesterday, I drove to Perrysville to my grandson's graduation party.  I was blessed to have five wonderful talented sons.  Unfortunately, my oldest son has been mad at me for over 40 years.  Here's why.

He was only 8 years old when I wanted a divorce.  I promised him I would not leave him with his dad.  Then his dad stole my three sons and started a custody battle.  There was nothing I could do.  

Over the years, I have tried everything I know to make it up to him, but he refuses to forgive me.  He thinks I left him.  So I went to the graduation party, and my oldest son talked to me, but he wasn't happy to see me.  It breaks my heart.  I love him so much.

So I went out to pick up trash and started with the exit ramp from Route 8 to Wilbeth Road.  This is the panhandler who sits there day after day.  His name is Roger.  He is my friend.  I clean up around him every week, and he is always so happy to see me.

After that, I headed for the intersection of Wilbeth Road & Virginia.  It looked really bad the last time I drove by.

I park my car by a dumpster, so I can empty my trash bag when I'm done.  Eight or nine little kids came running toward me.  Each one had a little bag of trash to throw in the dumpster.  I helped them, and told them thank you!  I told them my name.

They all left, and five minutes later, each one had something else to throw away.  It was so cute!  One little girl came over to me and looked up.  I didn't know what she wanted.  All of a sudden, she gave me a great big hug!  

I had my trash grabber in one hand and my bucket in the other, and I couldn't really hug her back.  I hoped they would find something else to throw away so I could hug her back.  I really needed that today.

Here's what the grass looked like by their house.

And beside the bushes, I found another BIG knife!

Good grief!  Why?  What if a child had found that?

There was broken glass all over the parking lot, sidewalks and grass.  I started at one end and worked all the way to the other side.  

A young man came up the sidewalk with an itty bitty broom,  He looked at me and said, "Oh my goodness!  I was going to clean up the glass.  I got a flat tire today. You are amazing!  You cleaned it all?"

I told him I got it all cleaned up.

I talked to him for a while, and then a woman told me there was glass all over the sidewalk by her home.  I followed her to the other side, and I cleaned that all up.

She was wonderful to talk to.  And she said she would love to help.

I can't believe I got it all cleaned up.  There was so much.  I felt way better.  All these nice people, all in one day.

I finally made to the intersection of Wilbeth & Virginia, but I picked up over 3,000 pieces before I got there.

I heard a ruckus across the street, and here came a little boy running as hard as he could.  He yelled out, "I WANT TO HELP!"

And he did help!  We picked up over 200 pieces together.  The funny thing, I'm guessing that helping me was the best part of his day.

Everybody wants to help, they just don't know where to start.  I'm leading the way, and so many people are following.

None of the people I met today realized how much I needed their love today.