The Yard Cart

Not sure why I never published this back in 2013 after I wrote it. An update about my green cart: I still have it and it is still working well. My father fixed this cart about 15 years ago when we were still living in PA. It has stood the test of time. It still brings a smile to my face, but for so many more reasons. It reminds me of my father, and all I learned from him. Miss him everyday.


If something was broken, my father would always find a way to fix it. He would find a spare part, he would glue and reinforce, whatever it took it was like a challenge to him and he would figure out a way to make it whole again. He would even collect broken things that others had thrown away and would bring them home to fix them.
"Look at this perfectly good beach chair," he would say, retrieving it from where it had been tossed next to the trash bin at the edge of the boardwalk. The frame was bent, the fabric torn, but my father could see past these short comings. He knew he could straighten the aluminum and patch the seat.
My metal yard cart was rescued several times from the dump thanks to my father. He fixed the wheel twice and it performs better than any of the newer plastic models. He kept the bits and pieces, the leftovers of anything that couldn't be fixed.
We have become a 'throw away' society. Something breaks and 'it isn't worth it' to fix it. It would be cheaper to get a new one. Isn't that what most of us believe? And perhaps it is true. I wonder at this and about what we are teaching our children.
Maybe more should take a page from my father's book. There is a certain satisfaction to fixing things. It teaches patience, and the rewards of keeping that one piece, not having to search for something to replace it, in the end, are so worthwhile.
A smile spreads across my face as I bump along the walkway with my green metal yard cart. My husband tried to toss if out so many times, but I persisted and told him this one was sturdy, reliable, and fixable. It would stand the test of time.