Some Days are Better Than Others

My mother imparted this bit of wisdom to me in my youth. I went to work at U-Haul and after that I left for Biloxi. I got as far as Slidell when one of the belts on my truck broke. I heard a squeal and a loud racket, causing me to ease off the gas peddle. After a second of coasting, all seemed well; so I again applied the gas. I could tell that something was not right but I tried to coax it down the road, vainly hoping that it was nothing serious. A quick glance in the rear view mirror dispelled that notion however as I saw clouds of smoke trailing behind me. I pulled over a popped the hood and discovered the remains of the belt tangled in the fan with yet another belt dangling from another pulley down below.

After taking a moment to regroup I began making phone calls. I called a friend to let her know I wouldn't be coming today and my sister who was planning to meet me. I after that I called a friend for help. Very soon help was on the way in the form of her father, a wonderful man who is also knowledgeable in all manner of car related troubles. He arrived quickly because he was already in the area but he was wearing what he called his sissy clothes; meaning that he could not crawl under the truck and do the work himself. But with his help, I was able to remove the belts in short order. Soon we were on the way to a nearby auto parts store where I bought the appropriate parts and a small set of inexpensive socket wrenches. In next to no time we were back at my truck, racing to finish the job before night fell.

I quickly wriggled up under my truck and reached out for the tools that B placed in my hands. A stick was gouging me in the back but I ignored the discomfort and kept on working. Following his directions, I began to loosen bolts. The work was hard because I didn't really know what I was doing and B was pointing to bolts from above while I was working from below. At the last we discovered that the set of socket wrenches lacked one size and I could go no further. I wriggled out from beneath my truck in defeat, somehow managing to skin my nose on the engine as I emerged. The annoying stick followed me all the way out. When I was finally free, I just sat on the ground with my back against the tire, considering my options. I had just become aware that the stick was now gouging me in the seat when B walked around the front of the truck and said, "Is that a dead animal? Yes, That's a rib. Hey, did you know you are sitting on a dead animal?" I stared at him for a moment in shock and disbelief and then frantically rolled off to the side, kicking an ant bed on my way by. I tried to scramble to my feet and that's when my knee locked up. This kind of stuff only happens in the movies you know.

Yes, my mother told me that some days are better than others but she never told me that there would be days like this.

Update
Yesterday afternoon we returned to my truck and B had on his work clothes. It was only a matter of moments to replace the belts. When we cranked it though; we discovered that the idler pulley was frozen so I had to buy a new one of those. Ultimately I was able to drive to town with just the one belt and no power steering. Later we bought the parts and finally my truck was functioning again. This weekend I have been very grateful to God for his provision and for friends.

RW

A Homework Break

A friend of mine recently told me that she could always tell when things are fine with me because she gets email from me but when I go silent then she knows to start praying. I realized that the same is true of my presence here as well. It is true that all is not exactly well. My faithful truck, Shadowfax, died last week. He threw a rod and now I either have to replace the engine or get another vehicle. Both options are beyond me financially at the moment. Believe it or not, door ninjas are not paid all that well. Today though; I thought I would share a funny story with you. This happened recently at work.

Frank's job is to water the plants and he has been at WM since before I started. He wears a huge hearing aide; it is about as obvious as you can get. I noticed that people usually have to repeat themselves several times when they speak to him. If you speak to him from behind, he will not hear you at all. Whenever our boss speaks to him he ends up shouting to make his orders known to Frank. The other day he was at the other end of the patio with Kay. I wanted to take a break so I went up to ask her if she would watch the door while I was gone. I mentioned that I was planning to get a sausage biscuit while I was gone. As I turned to go Frank commented that he wished that he had one of those. I realized then that I had been speaking in a normal tone of voice and that he had heard me just fine. I turned back and questioned him about that. "You don't talk loud enough to make my hearing aide turn off." he said. LOL

RW

It Was an Ooo, Ahh Moment

About two weeks ago I went out to eat with friends. We were celebrating the beginning of a new semester. It was a good evening and we each chose a new dish to try. We talked and laughed a lot. While we were waiting for our food to arrive the waitress brought our drinks. I and one of my friends had ordered hot tea to drink. When the tea cups arrived we were given a selection of teas to choose from. I started out with a nice Earl Grey. It is one of my favorite teas. As I unwrapped my tea bag I noticed that it was rather unusual. It was round and had two strings running up to a rectanglar paper. The strings were two short making the bag awkward. The whole contraption kept falling into my cup. I looked over and sure enough my friend was having troubles of her own. We commented on the unusual bag but the conversation quickly swirled away to other topics. I continued to study my sodden tea bag and then I looked that the unopened tea bags. I started reading them and was enlightened. Look, I exclaimed and began to demonstrate how to lengthen the string. Next I showed my friends how the paper would tear in the middle which allowed me to pull on the strings of the tea bag. When I did that, the tea bag squeezed itself. No mess or fuss like there usually is. As I did I said that I had read the directions on the tea bag. At this point someone asked, "Who reads the directions on a tea bag?" It was a valid question; who does read the directions on a tea bag? They are so familiar that one hardly ever gives them a second thought. You just use them. Everyone at the table began to ooh and awww over this really remarkable thing. It was totally hillarious. There we were, grown women oohing over a tea bag in the middle of a resturant. We got a really good laugh out of it and enjoyed several good cups of tea. Later though I thought about that question. Life is a lot like a tea bag sometimes. It is so familiar and simple that we just do it. Then we read the directions and the common place simple thing turns out to be really amazing and life also works better. I think that perhaps we would all be better off if we took the time to read the directions on our "tea bags" more often.

RW