Today I experienced two firsts. This afternoon, on the way to pick up grandson Dayan for a late lunch, Greg and I stopped by the Recycling Center in Joplin, located at 1310 W. A Street. My mom and stepdad are great recyclers and frequent the center. Mom had also told me how people bring items they don’t want and leave them under a large pavilion, free for the taking. She’s picked up all kinds of cool things. I had not been to the Recycling Center so today I took the opportunity to see where it was, note what items can be dropped off there and look through the freebies.
The center was a busy place! People were dropping of bottles, newspapers and assorted items, placing them in the appropriate bins. I was surprised at how many different types of bins there were for things such as plastic grocery bags, packing noodles and even used candles. There were the standard bins for glass jars, bottles and newspapers.
Under the pavilion were magazines, books, puzzles, batteries and assorted odds and ends, free for the taking. The treasures change daily, I’m sure. I know Mom has picked up flower pots and potted herbs before. Today, I picked up an inspirational mini book and a 2014/2015 travel book. There was a shopping cart full of magazines. This will be a great source for magazines to use in creating my vision board for next year.
Dayan picked out Instant Karma for lunch. This cool downtown restaurant, located at 527 S. Main, offers gourmet hotdogs, hamburgers and other fun entrees. We’ve eaten here several times, so to include a first experience, we all tried something we had not had before. I’m really proud of Dayan! He has not only encouraged me in my journey this year by participating in firsts with me, but has embraced many firsts on his own also. He chose a peanut butter hamburger. The gourmet burger had a beef patty, bacon, cheese….and yep, creamy peanut butter. The menu suggested there was a “smear” of peanut butter on the burger but there was a generous dollop! Dayan bravely tried it….and declared it good! We laughed at how often he had to wipe his mouth with his napkin! That smear of peanut butter went everywhere.
I had the special of the day, which was the Just Beet It Burger. As the name implies, the patty was made of beets and walnuts, served on a brioche roll with orange tomatoes and queso fresco. The burger was HUGE, and well, beet red. And, it was delicious. Because we also ordered and shared a basket of regular and sweet potato fries, I could only eat half my burger. It was accompanied by a side of vegan chili, which also came home with me in a container! Greg tried a Turning Japanese Teriyaki hotdog that was bacon wrapped and had pineapple chunks on it. He enjoyed it also.
It was wonderful to take a couple of hours out of the day to visit a place for the first time and enjoy a fun meal with Dayan. I love the energy around doing firsts and experiencing new things and when those experiences are shared, the energy and the fun increases. As I returned to work later, I was refreshed and humming along at a high level. Life….what an adventure!
