Dumpster Diving

Two things today have made me smile real big (aside from the perfect weather). First, I woke up this morning and and found a list in the kitchen that Jeremy made last night after I went to bed - "Movies for the Baby". I thought it was so cute that he listed out all the movies that he loved as a child, and wanted our little girl to enjoy too! Most were Disney animated classics, but also included were Walker family favorites like That Darn Cat, the Ghost and Mr. Chicken, and the Apple Dumpling Gang. I smiled all morning thinking of that list, even though practically/financially speaking, I knew it would take years to accumulate.

This evening we went for our nightly walk through the Milligan campus which was just vacated over the past few days. Our eyes were caught, for some reason neither of us can recall, by an open dumpster. We walked over to it, and it was overflowing with computers, shelving, speakers....and MOVIES. There was a whole garbage bag full of VHS tapes which we proceeded to rip open, and to our delight, it was full of DISNEY CLASSICS. To make a long story short, Jeremy ended up climbing IN THE DUMPSTER and digging through it found over 35 movies! There were probably 100 more we didnt grab. Some were for us to watch, but most are are are on the list he made last night - including That Darn Cat and Cat from Outer Space! I mean really, what are the chances!?! I wish I had my camera to capture Jeremy digging through those smelly bags. I mean, he was really in the dumpster.

We got a lot of interesting looks from those who still were on campus as we were scavenging- some adults and some students. At first I was slightly embarassed to be seen gathering someone else's trash, but the more I thought about it, the more disgusted I was by all the waste created by the students. (I guarantee you I did the same thing when I was a student there too.) I'm not gonna lie, we did look in some other dumpsters after we discovered our treasure for anything else we needed, and saw many couches, chairs, desks, and tons of supplies. It was an incredible amount of "useful waste". I dont know what the solution is to this problem (aside from educating and increasing awareness of others' needs - which you cant force people to care) but if Jeremy and I can gain so much joy from these blessings, and even call someone else's garbage our miracle, think of all that could be done with the rest of it! OK, I will get off my soapbox now. :) What a fun day.