One Man's Trash...

...is another person's family memories.

I have the best husband in the world. You may or may not have already known this. But he truly just made me cry a little at work. Let me give you a little backstory.

My Papa was a bit of a scavenger.

I cannot tell you how many times we were given televisions, lawn mowers, VCRs, radios, etc (you name it we got it) from my Papa that he "just found on the side of the road," or "found in a dumpster." He'd find something that someone else was careless enough to throw away, and he'd take it home, fix it up, and give it a new home. A LOT of this crap he kept for himself (as was evident when we were cleaning up the newly christened Operahaus after he passed away), but he also gave them to anyone who might need it.

"We were thinking about going to Home Depot today to buy a new lawnmower."
"What for? I got 3 of 'em out back!"

He also taught me the habit of always glancing down when walking outside, because you never know when you might find some money. Because of this habit, I found 26 lonely dollars on a deserted street in Boston one night.

So, last night, Operaboy and I were bickering a little on our way to go pick up some Dickens costumes for a caroling gig we have tonight (nothing says the holidays more than high tension levels and stress), and we were in a fairly nice suburb of a tiny little town near where we live.

I happened to notice that there was a large box on the curb next door to the house we were stopping by, and the sign on the box said "FREE TREE!" Of course, my curiosity got the best of me, and I walked over in the cold mist and fog to get a closer look. In the box was what appeared to be a perfectly good 7 foot, prelit Christmas tree.

Operaboy rolled his eyes at me and said I could take it as long as it was MY deal...I could be the one who wrestled with it. So he cleaned out the backseat for me and I loaded the thing up.

We took it by the Operahaus and I tried to start setting it up, happily thinking that it would be perfect for our Family Christmas Gathering on Sunday night (we had already planned to decorate a tree, but we were going to use a tiny little 4ft Charlie Brown number from my dad).

Unfortunately, there was no stand. The tree was far too heavy to support it's on weight so, crestfallen, I dismantled it and put it in the garage to throw out later.

Just now, Operaboy sent me a pix message on my phone:


He had gone to Walmart after he dropped me off at work and found a Christmas tree stand, then he went to the house and wrestled with the thing for two hours until he made it fit!

Of course he complained about how we're NEVER EVER GETTING A FAKE TREE EVER AND THIS IS WHY WE GET REAL ONES, but I could tell he was immensely proud of himself and happy to have done something that made me so happy.

How apropos. I think Papa would be proud. :)