Zest for life

A quick grab of the water bottle, a natural twist of the cap and ice cold water going down my throat was such a pleasure especially in between runs. And today, the same old bottle, the very same cap and the same me-- but the way I felt when I gulped that sip of water this morning during my workout was way different than yesterday, last month or 6 months ago. For some strange reason I felt thankful...

A bunch of people came in through the double doors at about half past 9. Some of them were physically challenged in some way or the other, while most of them were afflicted with down syndrome.  Youth was at its best and in particular there was this young boy, probably the youngest of the lot who was in a wheelchair as well. All of them were dressed in gym clothes, nice and fresh and so excited that it showed on their faces.

There are so many things that we take granted for in life. Talking, touching, waking up, able to brush our teeth on our own and many trivial actions which happen on a day to day basis. The first realization of this hit me was a couple of months after my son was born. A simple task as holding a cloth in your hand-- so easy for an adult was way too difficult for a baby and I watched with amazement as he mastered it with the cloth, ball, spoon & paper in tow. And, this morning I was amazed at just how much zest these people had for life. They were there at the gym trying out each and every possibility and more importantly, were having fun. 

Bless this country  for making living as friendly/easy as possible for physically challenged souls. I did feel really bad when I thought about how India still having to go a long way in making it accessible to physically challenged people. A person I know who's physically challenged still is not able to go to movies back home since it's not disabled friendly. 

My 4 miles was up and on my way out, I saw the youngest of the lot propped on the rowing machine. He was rowing with his hands while his coach/trainer helped him move his legs with her hands. The little fella was grinning from ear to ear, smiling away to glory. I stepped out into the morning sunshine. It wasn't until I saw myself in the rear view mirror did I realize that I too was grinning like a jackass, and actually had been for quite a while.

Green, Grey & Blue

A low rumbling sound at a distance...

Well, I know what that is. Friday morning-- same routine, same rumble?  Is Ayush going to wake up? I wait...........

The baby monitor flickers and makes a whimper, Jr is raising from his beauty sleep. 

Long live the garbage truck *sigh* 

The sounds fades into the distance... all is well again & the baby monitor decides to go into snooze mode again and incidentally so does Jr. Daddy dearest is oblivious to these things, what a blessed soul!? 

This is exactly what happens every Friday morning, week after week, month after month for the last year. When we moved into this neighbourhood last year around April, I quickly learnt that those really giant sized garbage tubs that every house sports is actually to be wheeled out every Thursday night by people living in the home. 

First week that we were there, we received a small booklet in the mail explaining how things worked with the garbage pick up schedule.

 

Green bin is for soiled wastes, garden wastes......

Grey bin is for recyclables-- now you should pay attention here. Only recyclables approved by the city code can be dumped into that (Where do we dump this ? Manu asks. "Oh that doesn't fit into the other bins? dump it in the grey" I say!)

Blue bin is for our good old garbage bags with the usual trash in it

Please note: Please place your garbage bins about 5 inches from each other facing outward from your curb.

5", 5", 5", 5" I memorized...

Oh and the booklet said:PLEASE WHEEL IN YOUR CARTS WITHIN  24 HOURS OF GARBAGE PICKUP!! 

Ok-- that is pretty easy, it's a pain I understood but it's not like NOT doable or something, just wheel them in on

your way out or way in. SIMPLE...

Our neighbours next door are from Philippines, very nice folks. Pretty elderly couple, well atleast compared to Manohar & I. I should admit that the neighbour man is very very handy around the house. A day hasn't passed when I haven't seen him meddling with something or the other. It's either weeding, laying new grass, cleaning his car inside out and the list goes on and on. Apparently the couple are very serious about their garbage collection schedules as well.

Their garbage bins are out in the cold wintry California weather only for a span of 24 hours or so. No more, no less.They are out by the time Ayush goes into his midmorning napThursday morning until Ayush's midmorning nap again onFriday morning. So essentially from 10 AM Thu to 10 AM Friday!!

3 weeks ago:

I saw the friendly neighbour. Waved a hi and went on about my job of see if any weeds had come up in the front lawn. He quite didn't return the "hello, how're you?" as chirpily as I would have liked. But hey.. probably he was having a hard day. He started brushing his dog's hair while I started cutting the extra weed like things that looked downright ugly. Once done,I brought out some trash bags and placed it inside the blue bin standing majestically in our front driveway-- there you go.. I thought and felt immensely proud that I had cleared my house of some trash.

Life was nice, sunny day.. all was well

Sometime between one of those Thursdays and Fridays:

I heard the calling bell and hurried down to open the door. The friendly neighbour was standing there with rather dirty hands. Was that.........? Why was he standing with...............? 

Oh hi...he said

Hi...

Actually, I wheeled in your carts for you this time since they have been out in the cold for the last week-- probably the longest I have ever seen anyone leave it

Gulp-- oh! that's really sweet of you neighbour-- thanks a ton

You know what-- why don't I do this? Let me wheel the cart in for you every Friday morning once they are done. How about that??

That would be really nice.. I said but I couldn't really impose...

"Nawh nawh.. I like doing stuff like these.... Don't worry, it's my pleasure to help you guys out" he said

I bid him good bye and thought-- Isn't he the nicest man ever??

The same old familiar sound and I woke up. AAhh-- Friday morning it is. My sleep was a goner, so got up and went to one of the bedroom windows to see the world outside. Saw the friendly neighbour outside with his labby doggie. He was just wheeling in his bins. The green went... 2 mins, the grey wheeled in gracefully, that man sure has class-- just, just see the way he wheels in those bins waaah!  2 more minutes and the blue one finally went in. 

My bins are going to be set free next. I waited patiently.. 5, 10, 15 minutes passed. Finally, I came down and went out so I could see what was happening. Neighbour was brushing his dog's hair and didn't smile at me. He looked in the direction of the bins and then again at me, a look of utter contempt

Darn those early morning dreams!

And, my garbage bins complete 15 days of successfully being out in the california cold tomorrow (thank you, thank you!). No cracks, no discolouration, strong like Dalmia cement... 

Again, within how many hours am I supposed to wheel back the bins?

:)