Mr. Fix-It
Yesterday Flash met me on the back steps as I came in from work with a lawn mower wheel in his hand. As he showed me how it broke right off the wheel mount, I became instantly empathetic to my dad, as I remember how he used to say, "Can I just get in the door before I have to deal with something?"
Broken clean off, it didn't give one hint of "fixable" but screamed of "replace me!" the idea of shopping for a new lawn mower sounding about as inviting as cutting each blade of grass by hand did.
I decided my best plan was to not deal with it right then. I had absolutley no idea what to do about it, and I wanted nothing to do with buying a new one. So, like a good middle child, I simply postponed the decision.
Today, I had a message from WG, "Have an idea about the mower. Let me take a look at it today." He was an instant hero in my book simply for taking the burden of figuring it out off my shoulders. Tonight, he backed the Jeep into the drive and pulled my briefly broken mower out of the back. He showed me how he fabricated a new mount and bolted this thing to that and adjusted the-I didn't even car what, I was over the moon excited! HE FIXED IT! He took a wheel that was broken off.... BROKEN OFF - a concept that in all my stubborn independence, I am afraid I know nothing of how to fix things that are BROKEN OFF - and he returned my mower ready to go. He even topped it off with gas as he knew my little red tank was empty.
I could not even formulate a thank you sincere enough or deep enough grateful enough for what I feel. It isn't just that someone fixed it, or that the cost was $5, or that it was up and running the very next day, it's that I never even had time really to worry about it. I didn't have to stress about buying a new one, or shouldnI just buy another used one, or do I take it somewhere to see if they can weld it? I never had to even THINK about the broken mower.
WG did. he thought about it all morning at work. If you get a steak from the market that seems a bit more choice than prime, it's because he was a bit distracted while grading cattle this morning, trying to figure out how to fix what I assumed was unfixable. For me.
Maybe, just maybe, God wanted me to be single all these years so I wouldn't take for granted these amazing things that WG does for me. If that's the case, may I never, ever forget to be grateful. These are the things that mean the most.
Broken clean off, it didn't give one hint of "fixable" but screamed of "replace me!" the idea of shopping for a new lawn mower sounding about as inviting as cutting each blade of grass by hand did.
I decided my best plan was to not deal with it right then. I had absolutley no idea what to do about it, and I wanted nothing to do with buying a new one. So, like a good middle child, I simply postponed the decision.
Today, I had a message from WG, "Have an idea about the mower. Let me take a look at it today." He was an instant hero in my book simply for taking the burden of figuring it out off my shoulders. Tonight, he backed the Jeep into the drive and pulled my briefly broken mower out of the back. He showed me how he fabricated a new mount and bolted this thing to that and adjusted the-I didn't even car what, I was over the moon excited! HE FIXED IT! He took a wheel that was broken off.... BROKEN OFF - a concept that in all my stubborn independence, I am afraid I know nothing of how to fix things that are BROKEN OFF - and he returned my mower ready to go. He even topped it off with gas as he knew my little red tank was empty.
I could not even formulate a thank you sincere enough or deep enough grateful enough for what I feel. It isn't just that someone fixed it, or that the cost was $5, or that it was up and running the very next day, it's that I never even had time really to worry about it. I didn't have to stress about buying a new one, or shouldnI just buy another used one, or do I take it somewhere to see if they can weld it? I never had to even THINK about the broken mower.
WG did. he thought about it all morning at work. If you get a steak from the market that seems a bit more choice than prime, it's because he was a bit distracted while grading cattle this morning, trying to figure out how to fix what I assumed was unfixable. For me.
Maybe, just maybe, God wanted me to be single all these years so I wouldn't take for granted these amazing things that WG does for me. If that's the case, may I never, ever forget to be grateful. These are the things that mean the most.
Comments
My sister waited many years for the right man to come along, too. Once, thinking I was helping (!), I said to her, "You know that you still have problems and worries when you're married, too, right?"
She replied, "But the weight of those problems is easier to bear, because it's always divided by two."
She was right. Definitely not something to take for granted, ever!