That “Uh-Oh” Feeling
Mon., July 8, 08:29 AM
That “Uh-Oh” Feeling
This is not going to be a good week. Sometimes you just know.
For starters, when I went out yesterday morning to get the newspaper, there was a window screen on the ground. That meant that (1) Cat – the house cat – must have pushed it out and, therefore, (2) Cat was outside, where he’s not supposed to be. Keep in mind also that these are not “removable” screens – we would need a carpenter to fix not only this screen but the other one that Cat had already loosened.
It could be worse. Daughter was scheduled to have coffee that morning with her friend the Carpenter. Carpenter is very nice about doing work for us and usually thinks I’m paying him too much. Nice guy. So Daughter calls up from the coffee shop to say that she’s going to drive to Carpenter’s house so he can get his tools and come back with her. Fine.
Daughter calls again; her water pump just went. Now, the car is generally her responsibility even though it belongs to Husband. I pay the insurance and taxes (just in case he decides he’s still capable of driving), and she pays for gas and maintenance. But this is expensive maintenance; she may pay me back in the future, but for now it’s gonna be me.
But wait! Carpenter has friends who can help, and even on a Sunday they step right up. Someone helps him tow the car to his house, while somebody else starts phoning to find a parts store that is open. Carpenter can and will replace the water pump. But first he will drive Daughter back – and fix my screens while he’s here. There are good people in the world.
I am most grateful for the world’s good people. I am grateful for my son, who took several hours out of his Newport weekend to come and mow my lawn and check out my computer. He would have done the screens if I didn’t have someone coming, but he still had his drive back to Newport – and back to Boston after that. And just incidentally, I am grateful that I can get myself to the ATM and that there’s money there to withdraw.
But that was only Sunday. Husband has a doctor’s appointment on Monday. This is just a follow-up to the tests he had a couple of weeks ago, and I don’t expect much difficulty. Except that it’s Husband we’re talking about. He doesn’t leave the house readily, and I am going to have to leave work early in order to take him. If he doesn’t like what the doctor has to tell him, he will raise a stink; if he doesn’t dare confront the doctor, he’ll start yelling at me.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
