Often life is a
dance—a three-step, where you take two steps forward, then one step back. I’ve
been trying to think how many people I have met in my life to date: I don’t have
an exact number but I do know it’s in the thousands.
I’m still
waiting to meet the person whose life is so charmed they have no crises or
challenges or issues to deal with, ever.
I am a person
who has had many of the above, and what I have learned is this. When we do have
these crises, these challenges that spring seemingly from nowhere, there are
almost always two things that can be said about them. The first is that they
didn’t really spring from nowhere. If you look back far enough, you can see a
root cause, an action taken or not taken that contributed to the situation you
are now in. And the second is that every challenge is an opportunity in
disguise. It’s an opportunity for you to grow as a person.
I can recall
our being so broke that every single day began with the prayer, “Lord, please do
not let anything go wrong today”. Fortunately for us, God’s answer most days
was, “okay”. But there were a few, “no, you need this bump. There’s something I
want you to learn.”
Last Thursday,
when I was sitting at my computer, in the peace and quiet of an empty house, I
noticed that the inside temperature wasn’t quite what it should be. I don’t mind
donning a sweater, and I often do just that before I will ever turn up the
thermostat. But on this occasion I looked at my thermostat. It was set pretty
high, probably over 80, but the temperature inside registered just barely 65.
I couldn’t
recall when the furnace had come on last, so I listened as I went back to my
writing. I heard it come on, run for about a minute or so, and then go off. My
first thought was that the thermostat wasn’t working right. And then, when I
smelled a funny odor that reminded me of exhaust, I realized that maybe, there
might be something else not right.
On Friday when
I brought my husband home from the airport (his flight came in at 0630), we had
breakfast and then a nap. The furnace came on and yes, that odor was still
present. I asked David about it and he told me that he didn’t really know
anything about the furnace. So when I got up again, I contacted the company from
whom we bought the appliance. We rent our hot water heater from them, and have a
service contract on the furnace, as well. It was late when I left the
message.
The next
morning I got a call from them asking me to open a window for cross ventilation,
and telling me they were alerting the gas company. Good thing they did. I never
thought about a carbon monoxide leak, because I know that gas is
odorless; however, apparently sometimes when a furnace leaks that toxic
material, there are other substances in the emission, too, and those substances
stink. Again, lucky for us.
Also lucky for
us, our house is nowhere near air tight.
The gas company
turned off the furnace, and the repair man showed up. It took him a while but he
discovered that the secondary heat exchanger was shot. The part had to be
ordered, and so we would be without heat until Tuesday. Good news? We bought
this furnace 10 years ago and major parts are covered under the 25 year warranty
we had. Bad news? The labor isn’t covered, and that was going to run us over a
thousand dollars.
Ouch. But
unlike when we were starting out in life, saying that daily prayer, we’re a
little smarter financially than we used to be. And while that chunk of change
does hurt, it’s not panic time. And because it is not panic time, we don’t have
the added stress of wondering how the hell we’re going to manage to pay that
repair bill.
We could pay
it, and we did, and as of 4 pm yesterday afternoon, the furnace is back at work,
keeping us warm.
Another
challenge faced and this time met successfully. But only because, in times past,
some challenges that we faced, and struggled with, did not end in success, but
in failure.
And we learned,
and we grew.
Love,
Morgan
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