Just Like Dear Old Elroy
Editor’s note: My dad had many, many…MANY nicknames, but the one my college friends, Buds, and I used most often was “Elroy.”
At Elroy’s funeral, my uncle Donny told a funny story about a time he and Dad were out trash-picking on garbage day.
They had been driving around Newton for awhile and found a fair number of interesting items when Dad saw a suitcase and asked Uncle Donny to hop out and get it.
Uncle Donny complied and as he tried to get back in the truck with the valuable find, Dad pulled the truck forward past Uncle Donny so Uncle Donny couldn’t climb in. Uncle Donny would allllmmmooosssttt reach the door handle and Dad would pull forward. (No matter the age, brothers are going to tease brothers.)
After doing this a couple times, Dad was a good ways down the road from Uncle Donny. As Uncle Donny walked along the road toward the truck, swinging the suitcase by his side, a woman in a car pulled up, rolled down the window and asked him kindly, “Do you need a ride somewhere, honey? The bus station or somewhere?”
This story sums up Dad in so many ways. He was not often light-hearted, but there was a sense of humor buried in there, and he loved to find “deals.” He didn’t see any need to let good stuff go to waste just because someone else was foolish enough to toss it out.
Anyone who regularly rode in his truck with him knew that you could be asked at any moment to, “hop out and get that can.” That Iowa can $.05 redemption tax turned him into the world’s most proactive recycler.
Having been the beneficiary of a few of his treasures, I have no problem with reusing items that other people have decided they no longer have use of. Buds also loves a “deal,” and it gets no better than free.
How else would we be the proud owners of a monogrammed Miss Alabama Beauty Pageant blanket from a former neighbor in Virginia?! You can’t just buy that at a store!!
So when Buds and I were out for our first dog walk of the day imagine our delight when we found treasures. We needed a new laundry basket anyway and I’ve always wanted a yoga wheel.
Cleaned up, disinfected, and after reassuring the children that most of the items in their lives had not been trash-picked, it makes me smile every time I see the items.
Elroy would be so proud.
