Photo a Day: Outdoors

Earlier this year, we had a bad hailstorm - something that is not terribly common in this part of the country. Fortunately, our (ungaraged) cars didn't get dinged, our garden wasn't harmed, and our pool cover literally weathered the storm. So we figured we had come through without any damage. Our neighbors, however, weren't so lucky, and some weeks ago we noticed they were getting a new roof, which they commented that they needed to get due to hail damage. Hmmm, we thought. I wonder if our roof is okay or we should have it checked out before the snow and ice reveal some damage we weren't aware of? So my husband called out an insurance inspector and, sure enough, we had hail damage. So we scheduled the roofers to come in and replace everything. The first order of business is, of course, to remove the old roof. But in order to remove it, you need someplace to put it. So this morning, I glanced outdoors to see a large flatbed truck - beep! beep! beep! - backing into our driveway, leaving a large, bright yellow dumpster sitting in in the middle of it.

Seeing that dumpster sitting there reminds me that in order to bring something new into your life, you nearly always need to get rid of something old to make room for it. When you buy new clothes, it's a good idea to weed some old things out of your closet and give them away. When you get a new car, you usually trade in your old one to make room in the driveway. When someone gives your children a new toy, it's nice to have them choose one they don't use any more and give it away. And when you take on a new hobby or a new project or a new responsibility, it's wise to choose something else in your life that requires your time and energy, and let it go. You can't do everything. Well, I can't do everything. And every time I try, I am reminded of that fact. So when I see this dumpster sitting there, I'm going to remind myself that there's probably something old taking up my time or my energy or my space, and it's time to send it away.

Outdoors.