Trash to treasure

"We're going to do WHAT?!?!" my nine year old groaned as I smiled through gritted teeth and explained that it was Earth Day so we were going to wander our neighborhood and pick up trash.

Her younger siblings quickly followed suit, proclaiming this the most BORING idea ever, and why did we have to do this, and blah, blah, blah, complaint, blah.

It was almost enough to make me stomp up to my room and sulk, but as I've been sulking for, oh about 20 months now, I thought that maybe I should motor forward.

Before we left, I called and invited another neighbor----an upbeat one with two fun boys--- to join us, hoping their enthusiasm would win over my brood.

And so there we were, a crew of seven, trash bags in hand, wearing gardening gloves to keep away the ick, wandering the streets of my neighborhood on a bright sunny April morning.

"Look! A cup!" someone yelled and the others pounced. Finding a glass bottle was like finding treasure. Everyone wanted to say they found a soda can. The kids ran into thickets to retrieve a napkin or piece of newspaper.

We got to the end of one street, and our group grew bigger. A friendly older neighbor, the one who sneaks extra candy into Halloween bags, told us to come back in a few minutes. We did, and he had set up his ice-crushing slush machine for us all. We had cup after cup of icy, sweet slush and the kids danced in the yard, stopping only to pick up a gum wrapper or plastic straw on the side of the road.

We didn't finish the whole neighborhood; in fact, we only did half. But, as the kids and I meandered home for lunch, I know I was not alone in thinking that our neighborhood looked pretty great today.