The dump

​hey Babe! 😍

Today I got creative (lazy) and turned a chore into a field trip. I filled your truck with items that needed to go to the dump, brought the kids along and called it an adventure. 😆

At the paying station I read a post stating that children under the age of 14 must remain in the vehicle. I was disappointed about that because I did want Joshua to get out and observe how the system runs. Instead, he watched from the window as Jennica and I tossed our junk into the cement canal looking driveway. 

Jennica was unloading large buckets of very old (like 50 years) food storage. As she tossed one into the pit it exploded open and grain went all over. She turned away feeling so guilty saying: 

“The dump is no place for an empath!” 

😆 she felt so bad about the mess. I felt liberated! 🤩

As we drove away I rolled down the window and had Joshua take in the smells and explained how a tractor will come through soon and push everything dumped into the pit, into a dump truck that will then transport the junk to the nearby hills that look like small mountains (but are actually trash covered with dirt and growing weeds.) He was amazed (as was I) that we were looking at trash piles not small mountains. 

This led to the conversation of recycling ♻️ and why we put those items in a different garbage can…they go to a different location and broken down to be reused. 

Jennica remembered our days living in Connecticut where residents were responsible for their own garbage removal. She said she went with you often to the transfer station with the car trunk loaded with trash. I only remember doing that a few times.  You filled the trunk every Tuesday, if I remember correctly.  And the smell always lingered longer than you liked.  Thanks for taking one for the team babe!!  Now, the trash job has landed on me.  Thankfully, all I need to do is remember to take it out to the street on Tuesday nights and return the bins on Wednesday.  Jadon is usually tagging along with me and I try to get him to help. I think he is willing but he can’t plug his ears and pull the bin at the same time so he doesn’t try to help anymore. 🥰

(This was a pic from the summer)

As we were leaving I joked to Jennica about my “home school field trip” and asked her what she thought schooling would look like for her kids. (She’s 23) Then I asked her how old she was when Joshua was born.  She answered: “14”

Joshua immediately made the connection that she was old enough to go to the dump when he was born. 🤓