This old lady is a fixture in the neighborhood. We have been "helping" her for well over 20 years. She is the official curbside recycling engine of our community. We all know her. We do not know her name. We know that she understands "Good Morning" but not much else. She usually has a smile. She usually appears to have the same volume of cargo no matter what day it is. We do not know what here starting point is and we do not know where she is going. All we know is that she is grateful that we offer her all the recycling that we have, except paper. Cans and plastic bottles are her favorite. She is grateful for each and every one of them. We are quite sure that she is Vietnamese, but then again we also have some doubts. She could perhaps be Cambodian or Laotian, Hmong, or... All we know is that she has been supporting herself in this manner for all these years. As far as we know, we are not the only ones who provide her with recyclables. Many of our neighbors do it too. She does seem to have a regular route and some sort of routine. We do know that she is a "loner" and that she prefers to not have much contact with those who approach her. We respected that by taking her picture from the back.
The next time you are tempted to think that you have a hard life, please give a short thought to our "Bag Lady." She works hard every single day and no one who sees her on a regular basis really knows her and she doesn't know us. We try to help her and she seems to be happy with our effort.
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