Garbage Men

Payson prides itself on its Labor Day Parade. I heard much speak about it. Apparently the onion day parade is the biggest thing to happen south of Provo -- there is nothing south of Provo. Why the mighty onion, you might wonder? Nobody knows.

They take themselves very seriously in here in Small Town, America. The city museum even had a special art feature during July -- gord art (as in those nasty veggie things you put out as a centerpiece at Thanksgiving). Why gord art in July? My theory is that perhaps the bigger cities get the art during the appropriate season.

So back to Onion Days. Saturday evening, we got a call from the super sweet chick on Main St (practically around the corner). Would we like to come to their home to watch the parade? No saving spots, no hauling kids up and down the road trying to find a location to accommodate us. Just bring a breakfast item -- it be potluck! As Mark said, "I really like the people here, they all seem so genuine."

Unfortunately it got rained out, we lasted a half hour then packed it up and scooted home. This morning on our way to school, I was appalled by the sheer amount of garbage on the sidewalks. Honestly parade goers, clean up after yourselves. The residents don't want to see your trash.

After school, the chicklets were each given a bag. "Let's see who can fill up their bag with garbage first." Alex immediately started. "What's the prize? Do we get a special treat?"

"You get the satisfaction of taking pride in your home, your community. You get to make Payson a nicer place to live."

"Yeah, but you know Mommy, I could really go for a cold drink and maybe a treat when we get home."

Andrew was done after his third wrapper -- a great environmentalist, he is not. Ryan was touch and go. Whenever Seany got really excited about a particular piece of trash, Ryan would rush to snatch it for his bag first.

Then we get to my Seany Boy. Seany likes to collect things, own them, pile up all of the same item. I thought he'd go for the whole garbage collecting. I didn't realize it would mean we'd spend an hour and half out there. He tried prying rocks out of the field, perfectly good leaves were pulled from trees. The kid took filling his bag to heart.

As we approached the garbage can, I feared Seany would hesitate to part with his assorted treasures. Boy was I ever wrong. Not only did he part with them, he ran up ahead and back a few times to toss in a couple bottles he caught sight of.

I know it sounds silly, but I was quite proud of my little garbage collector.