Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

Carson (my son) and I helped a friend yesterday. Well, we attempted to assist, but the boon doggle turned into a comedy. Sometimes being me is a bit cloudy.

Bob is my friend for twenty some years. He has a gruff voice. In 2009 he bought a condo for his x-wife (not out of legal obligation he has paid in full and then some). She had been unemployed for more than two years. Bob paid the bills for the condo and supplemented her income saying, “I will never allow the Mother of my children to fail.”

The x-wife decided to move east and found employment leaving the condo, unfortunately due to economic times, underwater. Rather than sell the condo for a loss, Bob decides to rent the unit. His new tenant does not want the refrigerator she left in the unit.

I’m handy, I have a refrigerator dolly and a teenage son who is strong. We volunteer to help move the refrigerator from the second story and give it to the Habitat for Humanity house being built in San Juan (thus offering assistance to several people as the Habitat house is being donated to an injured Marine and his family).

We load the dolly and strapping material in the back of my car and go pick up Bob. He fuddles around trying to locate the keys for twenty minutes.

While we are waiting I come up with the brilliant idea of the day, “Let’s move the refrigerator first to the downstairs garage before we go and rent a truck to move it.”

After an hour of shuffling the refrigerator we come to realize the thing is not going to make it down the narrow, freshly painted stairwell. (This is discovered with the three of us half way down and the right side gouging the drywall). We vote to move the box back up. In doing so I see my iron dolly is all rusted on the bottom and we have tracked rust shavings all over the carpet and stairs. Now it is time to go drive back home, get the vacuum, patch the wall, call the ex-wife to find out how that refrigerator ever got up the stairs and make new plans.

Hours later we come to understand, the only way to get something this large on the second floor is with a lift over the balcony. New tenant can keep this refrigerator upstairs and install his own double wide one in the downstairs garage. The cost to rent a lift far exceeds the value of a silly ice box. I call the Habitat people and tell them, “no gift.” They happen to have the equipment to solve the problem and will do it for free.

Every cloud has a silver lining, or thank heavens we didn’t rent the truck before we found out the dang thing can’t make it down the stairs. Hope your day is happy.