3/16/22

An additional note to follow the thought before this one:

— — —

I live in the city of St. Louis. A lot of people think St. Louis is a scary place. It is notorious for being scary. A lot of us who actually live in it, don't really see that as much as the people outside of it. But it kind of depends on the day and the situation.

I have a big back yard that ends at an alley. I have a large wooden fence around most of my yard, but the back part (by the alley) is a chain link.

I used to have dreams to change that into a wooden fence to guard my children from the alley, for various reasons.

One of the reasons is that there are people who, from time to time, come through our alleys and take things out of the trash. Some of them come with shopping carts. Some of them come with backpacks. Some of them come with pickup trucks. They seem kind of dirty and they usually keep their heads down and don't really talk to anyone. Creepy right?

Well. Maybe. But also maybe not.

They're just people. And, with my obsession with keeping things from the landfill, perhaps these people are just kindred spirits that look different than the ones that I already know. We clearly have similar interests and desires.

I'd been slowly growing into this new mind set. And then, yesterday I went shopping at my favorite store, the Goodwill Outlet. For those of you that don't know what that is, it's basically like shopping in a landfill and then paying basically nothing for the weight of the items on your way out.

(I found a gently-used $400 pair of shoes for my husband there yesterday and paid about $2. People are always getting rid of things that other people value. Even me... in my own alley...)

The Goodwill Outlet is always crawling with people. They are all very different looking people. We are all there to find things. We like to dig and connect and solve problems. They are my kindred spirits.

I used to be afraid to make eye contact with people there.

Yesterday, perhaps due to my release from ptsd, I was once again able to smile and make eye contact and chat and compliment and encourage all the people around me.

My heart was filled with joy and light for the rest of the day.

— — —

Then this morning, I was in my backyard with my 1.5 year old. She was wandering around by the chain link fence and I was mostly ignoring her.

Before I realized it, one of the backpack men was talking to us through the chain link fence. He had stepped out of the alley and walked up the 5 steps, or so, that lead up to our back gate.

This is the first time any of them have gone out of their way to interact with me/us.

So random... so extremely random.

Anyway, he was just saying hi : ) He just said it was a beautiful day : ) And he wanted to say hello : ) And then he went back into the alley.

That was maybe an hour after I had gotten out bed and I'm pretty sure he made my entire day. Maybe my whole week?

Is your heart melting right now?

Don't let it melt too fast. Gotta keep the joy and light in there so you can share it with your alley-backpack friends today.

— — —

Praise God for the light.

"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16

“The love of our neighbor is the only door out of the dungeon of self.” - George MacDonald

(Thank you to Christina Schempf for introducing me to Vik Muniz and his Pictures of Garbage back in 2019. It got my critical thinking spinning in the right direction. Art is the best.)

Artwork by Vik Muniz