Shortly into my run this morning I knew what my post would be about today . . . garbage, trash and recycling. From what I can tell, Canton has an every other week recycle policy and garbage is collected on Thursdays. Knowing this should have made me reconsider waiting to run this morning as the sun had already started baking the insides of garbage cans by 8 am. This means that five miles of air was tainted with the lovely scent of rancid meat, sour milk, and rotten veggies. Yum, right?!
While the scents of Canton's streets were slightly unpleasant this morning, it got me thinking about the trash that often infiltrates our lives. The extent of this infiltration is influenced by our choices. Do we choose to focus on the trash, or on the good meals, conversation, and company that was shared before the trash was created? While running, I chose to still enjoy the sunshine, cool breeze, and fresh air rather than the horrible stench that consumed the town and at times was enough to make me gag. Weird connection I know, but something I found worthy of pondering.
This pondering and philosophical thought was abruptly interrupted when I ran past the library. Free of neighborhood streets, smelly garbage cans, and stinky air, I lengthened my stride, straightened my posture, and picked up the pace only to encounter the pink shirted lady. Said woman was walking an incredibly large chocolate lab who was in the process of taking a huge crap on the library lawn. Mind you, it's just after 8am and the library is located in Canton Center. Time and location equal a long line of stopped traffic with drivers looking about and admiring their surroundings. And there is Chocolate Fido leaving his own spin on a tootsie rolls . . . or tootsie logs. OK, no big deal . . . dogs poop on walks. Go Fido! What doesn't typically happen (or so I hope!) is people like pink shirt lady who tug Fido back to the sidewalk leaving a pile of poo in the lawn of a public place! Grocery sack, anyone?! After smelling what closely resembled shit for the preceding three miles this was just icing on the cake and before I knew it I was giggling.
Fast forward 7-9 years. 6060 Belmont Way. Early morning, dad making lunch in his bathrobe (important detail for later!), me at the bar half asleep probably eating Cheerios. Another Fido is on a walk and just he takes care of business in my front yard my dad starts screaming, goes to the laundry room to retrieve a grocery sack, and proceeds to chase Fido and owner up the street reminding them that we don't have dogs because we don't want to clean up poop. Remember the bathrobe . . . yep, mortifying!
So, moral of today's five miles . . . BECAUSE I RUN I remind myself that while I know more about garbage pick up than necessary and people are often rude and inconsiderate, how that affects your life is up to you. While part of me wanted to chase down pink shirted lady and call out her rudeness, I instead chose to laugh, and really what better way is there to end a run that with a smile?!
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