A couple weeks ago I was driving down a country road to see a friend. There was a car on the other side of the road driving very slowly on the shoulder. I slowed down a little to see what was going on. There was a lady driving, she was maybe in her late forties. She looked rough, by rough I mean the kind of lady you can tell has lived a hard life. There were also 2 kids running in and out of the ditch that runs along the road. The kids looked happy, they were maybe 10 and 12. They were collecting beer and liquor bottles. As I was passing them so was another car. The couple in the other car also slowed and I could see them laughing and pointing. Its hard to guess the story that goes along with this. I have thought about them since I saw them. In my mind the kids were helping their mom collect the bottles to pay for groceries or maybe rent. Maybe if they collected enough they could go to McDonald's. On my way home they were gone. I wondered if they had moved on to another ditch or maybe they had collected enough. I don't know why this has been stuck in my head. I did feel sorry for them but the kids looked so happy they were smiling and laughing. I hope that life will get better for this family. Or maybe this is a better life for them. Who knows. What I do know is that those kids were enjoying themselves collecting what others had thrown away.