One man's trash is another man's treasure

My parents grew up in a small East Texas town where the people there never threw anything away. They felt there would always be a use for it. It’s a habit my folks took with them in life, most particularly my Dad.

I remember on heavy trash days where we lived, my Dad would drive the streets in his VW van looking for "treasures". He came back with broken fences, chairs, tools, whatever caught his eye.




"It's still good" he said as he piled it up on the back patio. Of course it was horrifying for me; my Dad the garbage collector. If my friends ever found out that the dirty man in the VW van was my Dad, my social life would be ruined!

As all us kids grew up and moved off, he still collected trash but now he had an army of friends who would call to tell him about a "great find" down the road. He had "eyes" all over the city looking for him. How lovely.

Years ago when I bought my house my Dad would come over and help me get settled. One of the things I lacked was furniture so Dad always kept his eye open for me. YIKES! There were some stinkers, literally.

One day he called to say he had found a dresser for me. He had been driving through my neighborhood on heavy trash day (yay me) in his still working hippy van and found a find!

"Come see this. You need to get it. I can fix it up for you" he said

I cringed. "Fix it up" translated into "pile of crap". The dresser was old, dirty and in pieces. None of the drawers had bottoms. None.

"It's in the garbage for a reason Dad. Just leave it"

"But I can put new bottoms in it and give it a fresh coat of varnish. It will look like new" he replied.

I thought he was going to cry. It was embarrassing enough to be seen talking to a grungy old man next to a beat up VW van digging through garbage, but for him to cry! I sighed, and then helped him load it into his van. I surmised I would just donate it somewhere once he was done with it. IF he got done with it.

After about a month, my Dad drove up in his van and brought the dresser over to the house. This is what I received.

What once was a pile of garbage that lined the curb somewhere in my neighborhood is now my most valued treasure; a gift from my Dad. Today, every time that I look at this dresser I am reminded of him, his VW camper van and all that junk he collected and his passion for creating something out of trash. I wish now I could see him driving today in his van picking through someone’s trash.