Ok, don’t stand too close to me. You might get struck by lightening. I’m warning you now.

One of the things I say all the time is how it is the little things when we least expect it that tend to put a smile on our face or give us a quick chuckle. Many times the moment it happens, it probably isn’t the most politically correct time. But let’s face it. It happens.

It doesn’t make you a bad person, no matter what anyone else says.Now, that doesn’t mean you need to be mean spirited. There is a difference between laughing at a snapshot of time vs a long term situation.

Now, with my disclaimer out of the way, I wanted to share a moment from yesterday that made me smile / chuckle as I drove in to work. The road I was going down, is pretty empty as it only really has farm land or empty desert along it. There are a few bushes here and there though.

As I drove down the road, I see a bicycle with a cart full of “junk” sitting on the side of the road. It just seemed so out of place, like someone abandoned it. As I got closer I see what seems like a homeless man laying inside the bush, leaning up on a backpack, reading a newspaper, smoking a cigarette with a big jug of soda or something on his side. Being that it was 90 degrees I assumed the reason he was in the bushes was to escape the Arizona sun. But I’m not going to lie. The image of how comfortable he made himself and how he looked like any guy on a couch just made me chuckle for some reason. I thought how creative he was.

A few months ago, I had some customers come in, asking that I call the cops as it seemed like two people were in a fight inside the dumpsters behind my store. That one person was threatening to kill the other one. I pop my back door open and while I can’t see anything, I do hear a one sided argument going on. And being that some punk kids do stuff back there and we did have an incident a few years prior, I called the officer out.

Turns out our local “meth head” who raids the trashcans was in there fighting with himself. Which is pretty common the officer said. They are often called out to find him alone and arguing with himself. Now, I’m not sure if our friend is homeless or not. But let me tell you, this guy is pretty resourceful. He is a staple around here. He rides around all day on a bike raiding the trashcans of items people drop off and tries to sell it to you. We have seen him with big TVs on his handlebars, microwaves, , cabinets, you name it. My first encounter with him over 3 years ago he was in front of my store with 4-5 giant kiddie pools on his handlebars that he stole from the local Frys Market. While you know it isn’t right, he still makes you smile. Plus he has such a huge smile and is so polite as he is interacting with you you tend to forget that you should keep you hand on your wallet. But still, he is resourceful as he recycles (pun intended) the things people toss.

I’m not saying it right to laugh at the homeless or the those in bad situations. I’m just saying that sometimes their ingenuity to survive what life has dealt them is pretty amazing and sometimes deserves our appreciation. And if everyone is honest with themselves, there probably has been a time or two that you smiled or chuckled at how creative someone you saw was .

Now, if I don’t get struck within an hour or two, you can resume standing close to me. As long as you keep at least 3 feet away. But that is more for personal reasons than acts of nature.    😀

~~~till we laugh again~~~