Trash Talk
by Erica Tywater
As I looked around my apartment this morning I saw that six bags of trash had somehow piled up and begun to smell. Why had I let the trash get so far gone? Well, I live on the 3rd floor, have a baby, live in Texas where the summer heat is killing me, and let me be honest..have been a little lazy.
I decided to take out the trash and get rid of this mess once and for all. Six bags was going to take me three trips to the garbage compactor so I took a deep breath, picked up two bags of trash, and headed out the door.
"This isn't so bad" I thought as I walked with trash in hand. I hummed a song and thought about how much better the house was going to look. I made it to the trash bin and threw over the trash bags. Two down...four more to go! I headed back upstairs and got two more bags of trash.
Geesh! This load is kind of heavy! I felt my shoulders tighten up as I walked down the stairs. I made it out onto the hot, asphalt and kept trudging along. Why is the garbage compactor so far from my apartment? Ugh!
Success! I made it and lifted one bag of trash up and over. Now comes the second bag. Okay, so four bags of trash down and two more to go. As I walked back to my apartment the sun began to take it's toll on me. I felt a trail of sweat drip down my neck and I started to get a headache from the heat.
No time for this...I have two more bags of trash to take out and then I'm done. I picked up the last two bags and headed out the door. These bags are so heavy! Did I finally throw away that weight set in the bags and hadn't remembered?
I made it down the three flights of stairs and stepped onto the street and it happened...I tripped. I fell forward the trash came along for the ride. As I got up and cursed aloud I realized that when I fell I had caused a small rip in one of the trash bags. I lifted the bag up and it was leaking some sort of disgusting fluid. Great!
I took a few steps forward and the congealed fluid began to run down my leg and into my shoe. I stopped and dropped the bag. My body was aching from the fall and trips up and down the stairs. The sun continued to beat down on me and I felt totally broken.
Alone and exhausted, I looked up to the sky and tried not to cry. I closed my eyes and took a deep breathe. As I opened my eyes I saw how blue the sky was and noticed that there wasn't a cloud in the sky. How pretty it was!
I looked around and saw that there were trees with pink flowers blooming on them. Where had they come from? The wind began to blow slightly and I felt it tickle the back of my neck. There was a lone bird flying overhead and in the distance I saw an orange tabby cat pouncing in the grass. What a gorgeous day this is!
I smiled and realized that I almost let a bag of trash get the better of me. I was so caught up in the grime of my task at hand that I was missing the beauty around me. I picked up the bags (still leaking) and made it to trash compactor. I threw the bags over and began walking back to the apartment.
Who knew that doing something as simple as taking out the trash would teach me such an important lesson that I should have learned long ago? I was reminded that there is such beauty in the world and sometimes you just have to stop and smell the trash...I mean the roses.
