The Glory of the Morning is a man Named Ted

Morning glories sometimes come in the shape of wiry, smiling men in trucks. Take Ted the Recycling Guy, for instance.

"It's a little color in your life!" Ted said as he handed me a potted petunia in need of just a little TLC.

I was out for the morning walk when he came to a screaming halt at the bottom of the hill, jumped down from the cab, climbed up the rear tire of the truck, reached inside, and emerged with this cast-off gem from someone's summer garden. "Trim the long ones, and it'll be great," he said as he shook out the hanging basket.

"I bring things to my wife and tell her, 'I hope you like it because I don't have the receipt!' I do a lot of my shopping on my home shopping network, where everything's free," he said. "And, if you don't want it, give it to someone else; bring a little color to their life."

With that he was back in the cab of his truck and off to wherever he goes when he sails off with our bottles and cans. Over the past few years, Ted has given me Easter flowers so I can plant the bulbs . He has given me wicker baskets. He's tipped me off on shelving, chairs, tables, and other treasures people leave in the bin despite their usefulness. "Might as well have a look--you never know until you look!" he says.

He's told me stories about the items he's come across exactly when his family needed such things. He's let stray dogs into the cab and made them a part of his family.

When I met Ted a few years ago, I still had my black lab, Cuchulainn. Ted stopped the truck and gave the dog a Milk Bone and made two friends. The man knows how to live.

I walked a mile uphill with a potted petunia, and though it was heavy, it was not strange. It was a gift from a nice person--and all I did was get out of bed and go out the door. Life is good.