I picked up a few things along my walk this morning. I will often times see things on the ground and walk right by them. I picked them up today-I’m not sure why.
The first was seven dollars. It was a five dollar bill and two one dollar bills. They were wrapped together as if they had fallen out of a wallet. I wondered how they fell out. I imagined someone taking their wallet out of their back pocket and reaching in for a dollar to buy a lemonade from a kid’s lemonade stand. While they pulled out the dollar, the seven dollars fell on the ground. This person was so excited about the lemonade that they didn’t see the other money fall. I had never seen a kid’s lemonade stand on that corner so that may not have been the case, but it was fun to think about drinking a lemonade.
The second thing I picked up was some garbage. It was a bag from a fast food restaurant as well as some napkins and wrappers from the same place. I sometimes wonder if people just throw garbage out the window of their car due to laziness. Or do they throw it out for another reason. Maybe this person has been told by their doctor that they need to change their diet and their family has been nagging them to cut out the fast food for health reasons. Maybe this person had a bad day at work and they use fast food as a way to comfort themselves. Maybe they threw this garbage out the window because they felt bad about eating it and wanted to hide the evidence from their family. I hoped this person would find a way to cut down on their fast food.
The last thing I picked up was a penny that was in the middle of the street. “Find a penny pick it up…” It caught my eye because its bright copper was shining in the morning sun. I read recently that the US Mint may stop making the penny. I guess it makes sense because we don’t really use the penny for much anymore. I mostly pay for things with a card now and when I do pay cash I very rarely have exact change. If the penny goes away I think I will miss Honest Abe staring up at me from the middle of the street.
At the end of my walk I had $7.01 in my pocket and I had helped beautify my village by getting some garbage off the street. The penny prompted me to think about our 16th President and to focus on my honesty for the day. By the time I got home I was ready for a day filled with found money and truth-telling.
