10. Garbage Cans
and Recycling Bins
Gerry said, “We fill garbage cans in my family. My mother made a mistake and almost killed a
patient. Had a panic attack and went on Xanax.
Now she blames all her problems on that one mistake. It’s her garbage
can where she dumps all responsibility for her life. Gramps gave my uncle the family business.
That’s my dad’s garbage can. He hates
his job, drinks way too much, chain smokes, and says it’s all because his
father cut him out of the business.”
“What about your sister?” I asked.
“My sister has a recycling bin. Growing up with two addicts made
it hard for her to rely on anybody but herself. She recycled that distrust into self-reliance.
It’s not always a good thing, but she gets stuff done. She shared my dad’s
anger with Gramps and my dad’s brother. My
sister confronted my uncle, and found out Gramps had good reason to keep my dad
away from the business. Now my uncle’s more of a father to her than my dad is. She
took the garbage that was her resentment and recycled it into that
relationship. I want to learn to do
that.”
“What is your family’s business?” I asked out of curiosity.
He laughed. “My uncle runs a flying school and charter
airline. They cut out my dad because
drunks make poor flight instructors.”
Today I’ll
try to recycle as much as I can.
Needles Not For Knitting (c) 2016 by
Ken Montrose
Needles Not For Knitting is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between the
characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.
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