Trading Trash for Better Trash

We own a nice patio. But what makes a patio really enjoyable are some swanky patio chairs. The kind of chairs that when you sit down your muscles instantly relax and your hand is forced into that perfect position to grip a cold glass of something refreshing. Your head rests on the back of the chair. Your eyes are only half open and you take a sip as you listen to crickets chirp and feel a breeze brush by.

Sounds nice, but we didn’t own any patio chairs. Meaning no iced tea, no crickets, no breezes.

That is, until Leah raided the garbage pile left by our creepy former neighbor. We hauled away his broken folding chairs all sneaky like, with Leah promising to make the necessary repairs.

Leah loved the idea of reusing someone's waste. I found the whole ordeal totally counter-intuitive. As I said just a few days ago, I’m in love with garbage day. I want to throw our junk away, not collect the junk of others. But in any good relationship, you have to compromise.

I get to sleep in my bed, she gets to rummage through the neighbor's trash. It’s a pretty fair deal, really.

But then she finds better patio chairs in a better trash pile and she can't resist. We upgraded to nicer, but still broken, patio chairs, solid ones, made of real wood. Sturdy and heavy and much more classy. Did I mention they are still broken?

Leah lugged them to the house and promised to make the necessary repairs. I rolled my eyes and she caught me. Then she placated me.

Next garbage day, I get to throw out the original trash chairs. EXCELLENT! I promised the garbage guys I would have something good to throw away this week, not just yard trimmings and kitchen waste.

If Leah keeps this up, I will get to throw away all kinds of chairs that other people have already tossed out.

Also, if we keep upgrading, like we did during this most recent exchange, sooner or later I will get the patio chairs of my dreams. I better go make some iced tea, just to be prepared.