OK, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but I swear my husband and son, on Saturday afternoons, get into the car, which is fully loaded with cardboard, plastic, garbage and so forth, and they are never seen nor heard from again for the afternoon. It is like the greatest adventure of all time is about to take place each and every time they go.
Then, finally, they do come back.
Usually in reality it’s about 30 minutes later, but to me it feels like an eternity in girl non-dump-mode time, because in my world, this process would take all of about five minutes max because of the stench. But my husband and son beam from ear to ear upon their return each week only to exclaim, “Honey (or Mom), look what we found at the dump.”
They follow up with details of everyone they saw there, which is hilarious to me. They tell me, “We saw Nicky’s dad and Connor’s dad and we’ve schedule a playdate for later on today” and on and on and on.
Then they produce the items they’ve salvaged.
I generally stop dead in my tracks and think, “Oh, gosh, what now?” But when my husband and son produced a $500 TV, my skeptism/sarcasm turned to a deep fascination. I swear that the items that people drop at the Falmouth dump, would top most people’s Christmas lists in other areas. Maybe it is my modest Midwest background talking, but just giving away a Thomas the Train table? OK, I’ll take it. Why should I go to Toys “R” Us and pay the $200 if it is $5 or $10 at the recycle station instead?
Still, I do keep feeling like the “Smiths” are going to come over to our house one day for a birthday party and exclaim, “Hey that’s our old TV!” or “Hey, you’ve got our old sports rack” or worse “Take my old pants off.” (Note to neighbors: If you are ever at our house and you see your old things, please don’t try to take them back.)
We even have requests from friends in neighboring towns to find stuff for them. Last week a friend asked us if we could look for a TV for them too. Guess what? We found an ever better one than the one we grabbed and were jealous.
So, if you see my husband and son there say hi. They might be firing up the old latte machine you just dropped off!
P.S. Thank you to whomever dropped off that Thomas table!
Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino of Falmouth wrote this on a Friday night anticipating Saturday's finds. She is the middle of 11 kids and has four boys under the age of 12, which might help explain her fascination with the new finds at the old dump.