Playing On And Around

Growing up, we we would bring our household garbage to a metal dumpster. It was parked at the end of our long-ish gravel driveway, a few feet away from the group of three mailboxes that seemed to form the nexus of the three households in our strangely-formed little neighborhood.

Sometimes the dumpster would get nearly full and our parents would have us climb up into it (perhaps giving us a boost at first?) to stomp down the garbage so we could fit in whatever else we still needed to throw away. 

Being an avid reader even at an early age, I couldn’t help but notice the stickers on the dumpster that read, “Do Not Play On or Around”. Pointing this out didn’t seem to raise anyone’s level of concern, apart from perhaps wanting me to finish my task quickly, discretely and without mentioning any more potential safety hazards. 

Even if I hadn’t considered the conflicting interests of my parents and the lawyers at the dumpster company, I think I knew intuitively that I was getting away with something. I was engaging in behavior that wasn’t completely sanctioned; even as I was directed by the highest authority I could think of, apart from the police and the President of the United States. It had a whiff of adventure; a fleeting detour from the rules.

But underneath that, I think the pleasure came from the sheer physical novelty: climbing up something that wasn’t a ladder or a tree; getting into something that wasn’t a bed or a swimming pool; walking on a completely different terrain than I could find anywhere else in my neighborhood. It was fun pulling myself up over the edge of the giant metal box and stomping around on the trash bags, cardboard and whatever else it was that got thrown away in the 70’s and 80’s instead of being recycled or up-cycled or sold on eBay.

As I got older, taking out the garbage and stomping it down when necessary became a dull chore, of course. But learning something new like ice skating or doing a cartwheel or swimming might be just as invigorating and won’t get strange looks from the neighbors.