The Recycling Man Known Around the Country

I think it is safe to say my son likes the garbage. As a result, we eagerly await the arrival of the garbage and recycling man every Friday morning. We became friends (when I say friends, I mean we made brownies and Christmas treats for him, he always had a sticker or pamphlet for Jacob, and he was the entertainment at Jacob's 3rd birthday) with our recycling man, Tony. He is a very nice guy and was always really cute with Jacob. Our city recently switched from individual recycling bins to one big blue can. When that happened, we were no longer on Tony's route. I tell you this so you can appreciate how exciting our Friday morning was a couple of weeks ago.

As usual we were on the porch when we heard the truck coming down the street. It was a new garbage guy, but for Jacob that just mean another hero. He was really nice and stopped to talk to us. As we talked I tried to explain my son and his obsession (you don't truly appreciate it until you spend a little time with him) and for some reason Tony came up in the conversation. As it turned out, this guy was friends with Tony and he went right to his truck to get him on the radio. A minute later, Jacob was standing in the garbage truck saying "Hi Tony, I miss you." I then heard Tony laugh and say, "Hey buddy! You just made my day." Jacob then asked how the rear loader was, to which Tony responded with more laughter and, "it's all good." They exchanged their good-byes and we thanked our new garbage man for helping us talk with an old friend. Needless to say, that was the highlight of Jacob's day, and I'm pretty sure it was for Tony too.

This is Tony and Jacob about 6 months ago.

This is Tony letting Jacob push the button to actually dump the recycling into the truck.