Bright blue victory

Today was the day I've been waiting for, pleading for, for more than a year. I made another phone call to my garbage service company first thing this morning, told them my story yet another time. The lady I spoke with couldn't have been nicer. I crossed my fingers and felt a spark of hope.

Today turned out to be my lucky day!


See that bright blue baby in the middle? The short, squatty one? That's mine! It was waiting by the curb when I arrived home for lunch, and I couldn't be much prouder if I'd given birth to it myself. In fact, I may push it around the neighborhood to show it off.

During the entire one-year-plus that I spent without a lid on my garbage can, I felt like a second-class citizen. Ha! A few days with no can at all certainly put that inconvenience in perspective.

I appreciate those of you who offered support and suggestions (some of you on more than one occasion) for dealing with a company that didn't seem to care. Annie, who knew you were such an activist?

Here's part of Annie's comment from early this morning: "Velvet, just sent this essay as a letter to the editor of the newspaper in your fair city." Hahahaha! I'll let you know if your letter starts something interesting.

I also found a quote attributed to Winston Churchill, no doubt during a long-lasting battle with his own waste management company: “Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.”

Sure wish I'd had Churchill's kind of faith.