Spring is the season for all sorts of cleaning — indoors and out.

A few years ago, I was in charge of cleaning out my aunt’s house — from old audio parts in the attic to a gallon of white lead paint in the basement. I met some wonderful and interesting people that summer... the Kranzbergs next door, Bruce the Tube Guy, and Ed the Trash Guy...

Ed hauled trash for a living. The heavy work he didn’t do himself; he oversaw a couple of Hispanic day laborers, who only seemed to know two relevant words in English: Trash and No Trash. I asked Ed if his job ever got to feeling old. He said no; he’d seen a lot of interesting stuff. His loans, he said, would be paid off in a couple of years; he’d be able to retire. And, he said, when I leave people’s houses, they are smiling. They are just so happy...

Indeed! When the trash is gone, we can see with new eyes what is underneath. When the trash is gone, unburdened, we can get on with the more important part of living.

We can move freely through spaces, smiling, when the trash is gone. Don’t we all wish for what Ed the Trash Guy has found — satisfaction with the work we do! And don’t we wish, also, for what he offers — open, unburdened spaces in our lives and for our living.

Blessings, Jean