Twice-Loved Tweety

An urban tradition that just makes me smile whenever I see it is the 'stuffed animal reborn atop a trash truck.' If you were a stuffed animal, I can't help to think that this is how you'd choose to spend your retirement.

A child outgrows the stuffed animal they won at the fair or received as a birthday gift and it's cast into the dumpster. The big-hearted trash men - guys who you might think are all muscle and no softness - spy the cast off and adopt it as the mascot for their truck. It's lashed to the front grill and now truimphantly rides through the city streets. Wind in its fur. Its bright happy plastic eyes enjoying the full sun. The toy that might have been sitting crunched alongside old milk containers and kitty litter, accepting its fate, is now a hero, finding new freedom and adventures on the road.

But to those who don't know it, this tradition is a little hard to explain without a picture.

I knew it was only a matter of time until I found a salvage stuffed animal in our neighborhood. Modified pick-up's troll our alleyways hunting for scrap metal. They toss old storage racks, pipes and shopping carts into the back, to recycle for money.

This Tweety Bird doll really struck it rich in his reincarnation. The bird has his own bird resting atop his shoulder and the American flag bandanna gives him the raucous freedom-loving attitude of a Harley rider. To put an exclamation point on the kerchief, he holds an American flag aloft in his right hand (wing?)
And this wasn't just for the Fourth of July, but it does seem appropriate to highlight his found freedom today.

Happy Fourth of July!