Um, There's a Dead Person in Your Kitchen...

One Thursday afternoon I was sitting in my living room having a nice chat with one of my neighbors. Her children drop by on a regular basis and have became very good friends with our children. We talked about all kinds of things but mostly how nice it was for the children to have each other as our neighborhood is filled with mostly young men serving in the military.

Mrs. Haley and I visited for quite some time while the children played outside. Her little girl knocked on the door and asked if she could have something to drink. I offered for her to come in and fix herself a glass of water. Mrs. Haley's little girl walked towards the kitchen to help herself to a glass of water. I sat back down until I heard a deep gasp!

In walks Mrs Haley's daughter. Her eyes are as big as saucers... "UM, excuse me ma'am but you have a dead person in your kitchen"! She was frightened.

Mrs. Haley looked at me very confused and slightly nervous especially since this was our first time meeting. I just laughed and said "oh no she isn't dead, she was never alive per say".

Mrs. Haley looked at me very concerned, waiting for further explanation. I noticed my answer didnt really ease the anxiety on her face... I decided to sip on my lemonade a little longer instead.

Finally Mrs. Haley couldn't hold in her curiosity, " I am sorry but I have to see about this". The stood up and walked to the kitchen to see an only partially constructed "doll" sitting at our kitchen table.

I finally decided it would be a good idea to offer up some information...

"She is a trash woman. We have made her out of garbage that we have collected. Her legs are in the closet. We will finish the paper mache soon and then start painting her body."

Mrs. Haley looked at me with this sort of astonished still slightly confused maybe even slightly judgmental expression on her face and then said, "but why"?

The kids and I didn't know anyone when we moved here... she was our experiment and entertainment for the summer.   "Oh, that's pretty cool", she said.

See, our trash lady is metaphorical... We can make something pretty cool out of a lot of really uncool stuff.

Life is definitively what you make it.

Stay tuned for the grand unveiling!