Any store or business naturally generates a large amount of trash that has to be dealt with on a daily basis. Growing up at the Store, we always had a bunch of trash to be disposed of. In addition to that, we also had to dispose of the trash generated in our residence behind the store. Thus, my brother Stevie and I heard “Take out the trash” a lot.
It was a daily and constant chore that we tried to avoid as much as possible. However, try as we may, it was only a matter of time until we would hear Buzzy growl “How many times do I have to tell you to take out the trash?”
Of course, back then we knew exactly what Buzzy meant and what he wanted done. Stevie and I would take the cans, bottles and food scraps out to the dump barrel and then burn the cardboard and paper products in the burn barrel. It was a fairly simple and mindless chore, but still a nuisance one that always had to be done. No matter how much trash we took out and disposed of, there would always be more trash on the way. It was one of those tasks where you never felt like you were done with it because, obviously, you never were.
However, it wasn’t until many years later away from the Store, that I came to view taking out the trash in a much more metaphorical sense. As Mick once said “childhood living is easy to do.” But as you get older, your life gets more complicated and cluttered with commitments and things that you simply have to do. While juggling all of this, you have to decide what is important and what is not. I thought of Buzzy’s words “take out the trash” and realized that stuff in life’s not-important-bin should go out with the trash.
And this applied to people too, particularly that group of toxic people you encounter along life’s highway. You need to take these folks out with the trash and let them go. If it is a family member bringing the toxicity your way, as they say in the rooms, tough love IS tough, but it is still trash that has to be taken out of your life.
I thought of all this just the other day as I was, you guessed it, taking out the trash at the Store. It dawned on me that here too is another example of my having come full circle as I am now back to taking out the trash in a literal sense. Thankfully, all of that metaphorical business of purging people and things in my life is done and gone. Contrary to how I may have viewed taking out the trash as a chore when I was a kid, here in my 4th quarter of life, I find that it is not too bad a thing to do at all.
Speaking of Mick, this was one of his solo tunes that sounds like it is directed at one of his ex’s as in @ 3:30 mark when he asks about “All those shooooooes” he bought her. Good video, even if it still looks a little off not seeing Keith playing next to him.