Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Why The Garbage Truck Makes Me Smile

Our garbage truck comes on Tuesday mornings and my husband and I start to chuckle when we hear it.  Why?  We have fond memories of how important the garbage truck was to our son when he was younger.  Just this morning we were telling him the story again.  Our son thinks it's funny, but he has no memories of any of it.  I thought I would go ahead and share the memory with you today.

This pic of son and me was taken over 6 years ago  - just picture him a little younger and smaller for this story!


When our son was young, probably 2-3 years old, he was completely fascinated by the garbage trucks that would come and mechanically lift the can up over the truck and shake to dump out the garbage.  You have to admit, it is pretty cool - especially for a young boy.

We lived in a 2-story condo at the time with the bedrooms upstairs.  Our son's bedroom window faced the back where the garbage truck would come through quite early in the morning once a week.  He was too small to see out the window and there was't anything around for him to climb up on (because it's not a good idea to give a busy youngster easy access to a second-story window), so the only way he could see the garbage truck when it came was if hubs or I lifted him up to the window to watch.

We are not a family of early-risers, so the usual scenario was that we were sound asleep as the garbage truck approached.  My son would hear the rumbling of the approach in his sleep, jump up, and begin yelling/crying in a panicked voice, "GARBAGE TRUCK, GARBAGE TRUCK!!!!"  Hubs and I would awake in a fright!  Then one of us - usually hubs 'cause he's faster - would run full-speed, almost tripping, down the hall to our son's room, scoop him up and hold him up to see out the window.  He would happily watch the garbage truck do it's thing and wave to the garbage man who would occasionally wave back!  Then all was calm and right with the world.

If our son didn't wake in time or we didn't make it to his room in time, we had a very upset little boy to deal with.  It was never easy trying to assure him that the garbage truck really would come back and a few days wasn't too long to wait - LOL!  We certainly didn't believe in giving in to our son's every whim, but had decided that it was worth our crazy morning once a week to give our son 60 seconds of pure joy from something so simple!

That's why I smile every time I see the garbage truck come by!  May I suggest having your kids give the garbage man a wave the next time they see him?  I'm sure it helps brighten the day a little.

I've added this to Your Life, Your Blog at Real Life.  Stop over there to read others' favorite posts and link up your own!

What's making you smile today?

15 comments:

  1. I have a little boy who waves at our garbage man. Our garbage man is such a friendly guy and he brings his little dog to work with him.

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  2. What a sweet memory!

    My oldest was tractor lover. We would be driving along and he'd spot them long before I would. Once we stopped to watch a farmer on his combine and he stopped and GAVE US A RIDE! It was wonderful!

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  3. That's a great story for his wedding reception, don't you think! It's so cute!

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  4. What a truly lovely story! That was really nice, thank you for sharing!

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  5. Boys and Trucks! They go together like coffee and chocolate! LOL! Such a sweet story. We'd wave but our house is so far from the road they probably wouldn't see us. Though I'm not sure they could miss me in this outfit I'm wearing today! LOL!

    Big move over and let me drive that thing cause it looks like fun size hugs to you!

    Have a fabulous night my friend.

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  6. My son loves the garbage truck also -- he's been fascinated with them since he was quite small. If he's outside he always waves at the guys and several times he has tried to convince them to let him do the "dumping the trash" part -- they think he's quite funny :-)

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  7. LOVE this, Lisa! I've been thinking about what I'd like to see more on your blog ... and it's this ... more of you! I looooooovvvvve the chocolate-y goodness you share with us but I even more I love feeling like I'm sharing some of that delight with a friend. Keep sharing life with us, please.

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  8. That's one of my favorite pics. So cute! Makes me wish I could go back and smother him with hugs and kisses!

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  9. What a wonderful story. Isn't it great to remember and talk about. My son loved the train and we would drive down by the river where it would pass, the conductor would wave and he would be so excited. He too was about 3 at the time.

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  10. I should tell you that David who commented above is my hubs(and this is his first time EVER commenting on my blog)! Didn't want anybody wondering who's trying to smother our son with hugs & kisses!

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  11. Wow, sounds so familiar. However, Preston has a love hate relationship. He is afraid of very loud sounds, even the vacuum cleaner. He wants to see the truck, but would prefer to watch from the inside because of the "LOUD" noise it makes. Every once in a while I will carry him out to see it do the job that is so cool. Anyway, it is way too early for us most of the time, also.

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  12. How sweet, Lisa! A garbage tuck would make me smile too, since we have to take our own! (this means it usually sits for a while in our basement first!)

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  13. Stopped over from real life blog. Your blog header is adorable!! After two very girly girls and princesses galore, we have a little boy. Can't wait for him to enter the truck phase :)

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  14. What a sweet story, it really made me smile imagining the little guy waving at the garbage man :-) My little son (2.5 years old) also loves the garbage truck and tractors and trucks and cars and ... everything with wheels LOL

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