Note: This post is part of an ongoing blog series called #costamesa365 where the author is striving to shop only* in her city of Costa Mesa, for a year.
I am what you might call a super-heavy user of Canyon Park, Fairview Park and Talbert Nature Preserve.
Most mornings you’ll see me trail-running along the paths. (Yes, I trail-run for fun.) Sundays are my “distance day.” I wake up before dawn and get in my longest trail-run of the week.
So by Monday morning? I’m not running. At. All.
I’m limping along through the canyon, plugged into a podcast, and trying my best to “walk it off.”
So today was a typical Monday. I was shuffling through the canyon on sore legs and enjoying the sunrise.
But as I was breathing in my fill of marvelous morning nature, I also caught a glimpse of this:
And this:
And this:
Hmmm…
My Costa Mesa conscience was just put on notice.
Some days, I see other neighbors walking the parks – trash bag and picker-upper-thingy in tow – tidying up the nature we all enjoy. I always smile, and sometimes say, “Thanks!”
But for some reason, on this particular morning, it hit me that I could personally be walking that talk. Not in some big, crazy, time-consuming way. But as a super-heavy user of my neighborhood parks, I could still contribute a teenie-tiny bit more towards keeping them clean.
So as of today, I will do my best to make one morning walk per month a “Make-Better Monday.” I plan to purchase (in Costa Mesa, of course) my very own trash-picker-upper-thingy. (I found a couple in stock at Home Depot, yay!)
I imagine it will be a lot like playing Pac-Man… but with trash. Since I’m only just hobbling along, most Mondays, may as well gobble up some rubbish, too.
Level up! ♥
______________________
*We will always start by shopping / looking in Costa Mesa, first. But if we really need something and an alternative is nowhere to be found in Costa Mesa, we’ll stray. Also, as parents, we’ve decided that certain kid-related things (mainly educational) will need to remain baked in.
