Do you remember the old 80’s hair band song that stated in part, “...you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone...”? While that song is not typically thought of as a Christmas song, during the week of Christmas that song played over and over again in my head as I lamented the fact that I no trash can outside of our home to put trash into.
On the Friday before Christmas we had scheduled to have the windshield on my wife’s car replaced as she had been hit by a pretty nasty stone while driving to work the week prior. The technician who came to the house to install the windshield dropped the windshield as he was attempting to install it cracking it. We both felt terrible as he had to return to his shop to get a new windshield to finish the job. We had several appointments and obligations so we asked him if it was alright if we left, leaving the car unlocked so that he could finish the job upon his return.
We didn’t get home until late that evening - so it wasn’t until the following morning that I noticed that our trash can was no longer curbside in front of our house. I commented that maybe the windshield technician had moved it to the side of the house, but upon further investigation - my trash can was gone.
I immediately attempted to call the trash company, but they were closed given the weekend - so no resolution could be reached until Monday, which also was Christmas Eve.
It wasn’t until I lived without a trash can that I realized how much I appreciated having a trash can to put all of our household trash into. Forget the fact it was a holiday week and as such our trash output was higher than normal - the simple fact of not being able to take a bag of trash from our kitchen to the outside trash can was turning into a dilemma.
Throughout the course of the weekend, we improvised, burning in our fire pit as much of the paper trash as possible limiting the items that could not be burned, but still the bags started to pile up on the bag porch.
Monday morning I was able to speak directly with the trash company learning that when the truck picked up our can on Friday, the arm released the can into the back of the truck and that there was no way to retrieve the can safely. The representative stated that we would have a new can delivered in the next few days apologizing that the Christmas holiday meant several days of delay.
Two days after Christmas we came home to find a shiny new trash can in our driveway. It was truly a sight for sore eyes. Up until that point in time, I had never really given much thought to a trash can, but living without a trash can revealed just how much something as insignificant as a trash can can be in a persons life.
More importantly than that - although I’ve always made a point to thank the trash men when I’ve seen them picking up - just how much their service was to our family was made abundantly clear during the week we lived without that trash can.
My challenge this week to you is simply this. What thing(s) in your life do you take for granted never giving it a second thought that if it were gone, you’d truly miss? In our household, going a week without that trash can revealed just how much we appreciated the service they provided.
Take sometime this week and say thank-you to the things and people that make your life easier and more convenient. It will not only make those people know that you appreciate their service to you - but it just might make your day better as well.
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