Trash Day

-Photo via naturewalkboston.blogspot.com

Sometimes to hang on to sanity, you must seek out - or better yet, stumble upon - beauty in the little things.

Friday is our Trash Day. Usually I drag the barrel and the recycling bin to the curb Thursday night, because you never know what time the garbage crews will show up.

(Sometimes it's 6 a.m., sometimes the middle of the afternoon. But I am not criticizing garbage men and women. They have one of the worst jobs in the world. I couldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. They say New York City garbage workers make six figures. They deserve it. But I digress...)

But I procrastinated this week and I took the trash out Friday morning before leaving for work. The sun was peeking over the horizon. The air was brisk but full of promise for the coming spring. I placed my barrel and my bin at the curb and glanced down the block.

House after house, from my block to the corner, the garbage receptacles were lined up in a perfect, arrow-straight row. Garbage can. Recycle bin. Garbage can. Recycle bin. Garbage can. Recycle bin. All the way to the intersection.

And in its own way, the symmetry of early-morning trash was beautiful.

Of course, when I arrived home, the barrels were strewn about the neighborhood, and all symmetry was lost to chaos. But for a brief glimmering moment Friday morning, the stars - and the cans - were aligned.

-- Matt Kelsey