TIME TO FACE MY FEARS . . .

 

As I was driving home on Main Street yesterday, I went by Emerling.  That's where a shooting occurred last week.  It looked bad.  Really bad.  And scary.  I wanted to clean it, but I was afraid.

I don't understand what's happening in the world.  When I was a kid, if you got mad at somebody, you punched them in the face.  Now, people whip out a gun and shoot people in the face.  Why?  It makes no sense to me.

I made a decision.  I decided to face my fears and clean Emerling.  

When I got there, the city trash can was knocked over, and there was trash piled up beside it, and garbage up both sides of the street.  

When a mess is so bad I don't know where to start, I just start anywhere. 

I stood the trash back up and moved it away from the building.  I cleaned up all the garbage, and filled my recycle bin with aluminum cans twice.  I've never done that before.

When I was almost done, an older man came around the corner, and he had three six packs of pop and four Dollar Store bags with groceries.  He couldn't go another step.

I had just tied my first trash bag shut, so the trash can on my trash cart was empty.  I hurried over to him and loaded all his groceries in my trash can, and walked with him to his house.  Then his grandson came out and took everything in the house after I put it on their porch.  

He was so grateful, and all of a sudden, I wasn't scared anymore.  There were nice people living on this street, and I just made friends with one family.  All it took was one random act of kindness!

I slowly worked my way up the street, and when I got to this area, I couldn't believe the trash.  But at least there was some shade.

I got it all cleaned up, and this whole street looks nice now, both sides.

I picked up 3,679 pieces of trash, and I know the people who live on this street appreciate what I did.  

Everybody was sitting out on their front porches when I left. 

I love showing you how much trash is in the bushes.  

It looks clean, doesn't it? I thought so too, when I walked by.

No, it was not clean.  

But it is now.

And I passed this fork stuck in between the blocks of this wall, and there was more trash here than just a fork!

All this stuff was right there!  

Sometimes you have to look for trash, but you will find it if you look.

This is pretty funny.  The cemetery has an iron fence around it, and I saw a Styrofoam cup.  I couldn't reach it with my hand, but I could reach it with my trash grabber!

I didn't notice there was a grave marker there.  A baby was born in 1903, and died in 1905.  My grandpa was born in 1903.  I'm so glad he lived long enough for me to know him.  He was a wonderful man.

Picking up trash is a workout, both physically and mentally.  Today, I picked up trash for 3 1/2 hours, and I was thinking about my grandpa.  

What a great day! 

I found this filthy thing on the side of the road, covered with grease.  I didn't know what it was, so I threw it away.  Then I got it back out.  It was a dog toy!  And I have dogs who love toys!

So I took it home, and scrubbed it with Dawn and a brush, dried it off and gave it to Henry. 

And it lights up!!! What a bonus!

Today was a wonderful day!  I faced my fears, and made some new friends, thought about my grandpa, and gave my dog a present!  

It really doesn't get much better than that.