More Trash!

I was thrilled yesterday to receive a call from the local manager of Solid Waste. I worked as a trash lady a little over a year ago,
(see http://maggiesattic.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_archive.html and scroll down to 28.Sept)
and worked with a fellow who has been emptying garbage for 33 years. He is retiring today and they are having a drop-in reception for him from 11am to 2pm. The manager called to ask would I attend? Would I! The mayor is dropping in at about 12 to present him with an honorary award to recognize that he has not had a single driving offense in 33 years of driving the garbage truck.

I asked if the paper had been notified and the answer was no. Would he mind if I cover it? We were hoping you would, he said. So a few calls to my editor and the photography editor set it all up.

The paper is philosophically opposed to "handshake" type photos, the type showing the fellow receiving the plaque and shaking hands with the Mayor. They are too pose-y. They prefer "action shots."

The fellow who is retiring is working today, of course, --I can't imagine this particular fellow doing anything else but working to the very end, and so a photographer is going to catch him in action today and photograph him. I got his locations for the day and gave them to the photography folks so they can find him.

I so enjoyed working with him and the other fellow I worked with on that hot September day. They were both so so so gentlemanly and sweet to me. Treated me like a china doll. (You'd have to know me to realize how unusual that would be for me.) I truly look forward to seeing him again today and honoring him with a good writeup.

In preparing for the interview today, I pulled up my earlier article, (http://archive.salisburypost.com/archive_detail.php?archiveFile=./pubfiles/sls/archive/2005/October/02/Lifestyle/30378.xml&start=20&numPer=20&keyword=maggie+blackwell&sectionSearch=&begindate=1%2F1%2F1983&enddate=12%2F31%2F2006&authorSearch=&IncludeStories=1&pubsection=&page=&IncludePages=1&IncludeImages=1&mode=allwords&archive_pubname=Salisbury+Post%0A%09%09%09)
and also my blog account of the event, see earlier hyperlink.

Looking over the blogs for September, 2005, truly took me on a trip down memory lane. Three weeks prior to my riding garbage, DH had had an accident with the table saw and lost his left pinkie. The September blogs are a compilation of sadness, hope, patience, discouragement, worry, and ultimate victory. Altogether, if something really crappy had to happen in our lives, this crappy event turned out in what I believe was the best possible outcome. DH was overwhelmed with how many people really really care about him. His sense of humor about it cannot be believed. He is constantly saying things like, "Gimme 4!" or "Pinkie swear!" These remarks sometimes take people aback, but this is his way of accepting the loss. Just about every day, I see him looking at it, rubbing it, or stretching the ring finger, which was quite damaged but not lost in the accident. As recently as yesterday, he found a way to joke about it. More on that at the end of this entry.

Reading the daily blogs about the accident made me realize what a good team we really are. We had a crisis, we worked together through it, and came out well in the end. As always, the terrible things turn out to be the best things. We grew closer emotionally and spiritually. His musical talent actually GREW as an outcome of the accident. It really did my heart good to read the blog about it.

Yesterday. Our dear little friends H and W, 5 and 2.5 yrs old, stopped by to visit yesterday afternoon, and brought their mom, J. W loves to sit at the island in my kitchen and have a snack, so much so, that when he stops by, he sort of expects to have a treat. This is great with me and I try to have healthy treats on hand for just such a visit. This all worked out yesterday so that the boys were seated at the island drinking an Izze, eating organic string cheese and eating raisins, and the three of us adults were standing around in the kitchen just gazing at them and enjoying their presence. W spoke up. "When I was a little boy," he began, (remember he is 2 1/2 now) "I saw a crocodile and the crocodile bit off my finger." As he told us, his eyes grew wide and he nodded his head.

"Me too!" DH exclaimed, and held up his 4-fingered hand. Fortunately this was 'way over W's head so he wasn't horrified to see that DH truly is missing a finger. This kind of teasing is DH's way of reconciling to the loss. How cool is he.