We've Found Independence... With a Small Town Garbage Route!

(Page 5 of 5)

September/October 1978
 
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One of the older retired fellows on our route, for instance, needed our service . . . but really couldn't afford a monthly garbage bill. He, however, did enjoy building some fine doghouses out of scrap lumber. You guessed it! All our dogs now live in snug, individual, paneled and shingled houses .. . and we have one more regular stop where we both pick up the garbage and "shoot the breeze" a bit.

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. . . AND THE PERSONAL SATISFACTION'S EVEN GREATER!

I suspect I could spend the rest of the day tellin' you how wonderful our little do-it-yourself business is and how much we love it. Let me cut myself short, though, by just sayin' that Larry, the boys, and I are rich. Not rich in actual dollars, of course ... but rich in everything that really matters.

It's hard to define "wealth", you know, since everyone's ideas on the subject are really only matters of opinion anyway. But if anybody asked us, t reckon we'd all say that the Pace family is wealthy.

The four of us like to live so simply that we more or less feel the income we currently net from our garbage route is a downright luxurious amount of money. That—plus the cash we realize from ail our sidelines added onto the money we save by raising a garden, keeping chickens, burning wood salvaged from our main business, etc.—certainly combine to give Larry, Nubie, Andrew, and me a feeling of great abundance and security.

And we have so much more too! For instance: the joy of providing ourselves with all this bounty while working strictly for ourselves, unpressured, and at our own pace.

Then too, there's all the time we have for each other. Except for the time they spend in school, Larry and I are always available to both our boys . . . and we're always available to each other: Yes, my husband and I work together—on our own and outdoors, no matter what the weather—every day. And, believe it or not, we get along famously! I guess, when you constantly fight 200-pound burn barrels for a living, you don't have much yen to fight each other too!

So listen, folks: If you're ever in mid-Nebraska, driving along Highway 30, and you spot a tall, skinny girl driving an old gray garbage truck . . . wave to the redhead riding on the side! And go ahead and stare! Beneath all that dirt and ashes, there are two more happy MOTHER readers . . . just doin' their own thing!

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