I am a very good recycler. An upcycler, not so much.
Upcyclers - in case you don't know - are people who give new life to junk. They'll take old window frames, for instance, and turn them into mirrors. They'll take old doors and turn them into tabletops. They'll take old milk bottles and turn them into vases.
Their favourite day of the year arrives next week. That's the annual toss-yourstuff-by-the-curb day, the occasion when upcyclers the municipality over will gleefully patrol the streets, looking for all manner of garbage to turn into all manner of treasure.
I wish I could see what they see.
But I don't. Where I see ratty old boots, they see a planter box. Where I see discarded CDs, they see a lampshade. Where I see a broken tricycle, they see a door stop. Perhaps, though, that can change. Perhaps, if I give it a really good shot, I can also walk the streets next week and look at garbage with different eyes.
I can just imagine it now. I will return home with more than a spring in my step.
"What do you have there?" the husband will ask.
"Oh, man," I will say.
"Let's see. An old frying pan. A briefcase with a broken zipper. And a pail with a hole in it. And that's just for starters."
The husband, I imagine, will just stare at me for a moment or two. The husband, I might point out, has also never had upcycling eyes.
"And what good," he will ask," is a pail with a hole in it?" "It's not going to be a pail, silly," I will tell him. "I'm going to upcycle it. I'll probably, um, turn it over and make it a foot stool."
The husband, I am almost certain, will tell me that sounds really ugly.
Then he will ask about the frying pan.
"Don't we already own, like, five or six frying pans?" "I told you," I will reply.
"This is all about upcycling. This frying pan is no longer going to be a frying pan. I think I might use it as a base for a terrarium. Either that, or a piece of wall art."
OK, so maybe frying pans don't make for fabulous art.
And OK, I'm guessing this takes some time. Chances are, I won't instantly imagine the upcycling possibilities next week when I stumble upon a broken television set, a bicycle with one wheel or a rusty set of pruning shears.
Perhaps I'm not such an upcycling pro. Think I'll leave the bike on the curb next week.
