Out of the Home Office, Into the Community

2021 has brought many changes to my family! Perhaps, one of the biggest was moving 2,000 miles across the USA and finding ourselves in the beautiful southwest Missouri Ozark Mountains. 

As we set up our new home and I settled into my new home office, working fully remote as a healthcare IT consultant with Atos, I was eager to explore the area. 

There was such immense beauty to be found on every hilltop and valley, beside each stream, in each flower blossom, and inside each forest. We came to realize that to reach our home from the nearby towns, we actually went over the hills and through the woods as though to Grandmother's house we should be going. What fun!

When out driving one day, less than a month after we had arrived, I spotted a new and large pile of garbage that had been dumped right on the roadside in this fairytale landscape. How sad; it was so ugly and felt like it must not be left to stay and be blown to the wind.

I hurried home and told my husband that we needed to spring into action. He headed to the local hardware store and bought some 'trash grabber' tools and gloves, we stuffed our pockets with garbage bags and headed out that very weekend!

We walked about a mile on both sides of the road (~2.2 total miles round trip) until our five garbage bags were brimming full. We got to see more of our rural road, wave at passing neighbors, and show the region through our actions that we may be new, but we were ready to be a part of the positive change our world needs every day.

While I may not commute this road each day on the way to the office since that is in my home now, I take pride each time I do travel through that stretch knowing it's safer and cleaner for my family and others.

What creative ways have you gotten involved in the neighborhoods around your home or office? Comment below and help inspire us all!

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