Exercises In Self Sufficiency

I really don’t understand this! I guess it has something to do with Murphy’s Laws. But, every time my husband goes out of town, some kind of domestic crisis occurs. It doesn’t matter whether he’s gone for one day, or one month, he almost dreads coming home, because he knows it’s going to cost him somehow! I have a new appreciation of what it must be like to be a single parent!

Once, when he was away, my toddler flushed her training pants down the toilet. I had left the room to answer the phone and she could not pass up the opportunity to “help” Mommy. Now, granted, I could have called a plumber. But, my husband is a very handy fix-it man. How could I deprive him of this chance to dismantle our toilet and then, reassemble it? Since we were fortunate enough to have another toilet in the house, we tape the clogged one shut, and saved this dandy little treat for Dad when he got home two days later!

Another evening, during a pouring rainstorm, my neighbor next door pounded upon my front door. “Did you know your roof is coming apart?” he asked. “No, I didn’t,” I replied, worriedly as I pulled on my raingear and headed out to assess the damage. Sure enough, the flashing was flapping wildly about, and judging from the intensity of the storm, my son’s room would be about a foot deep in raindrops by morning. “What time will Dave be getting home?” my neighbor asked. “Sometime next Thursday,” I replied smiling weakly. “You mean he’s out of town?” he asked. I nodded.

Well, this is one act of kindness I will never forget! My neighbor braved the storm and improvised a roof repair job that was sufficient to tide us over until drier weather. But I want to know, why do these things happen when you are least prepared to deal with them?

Believe me, I like snow! And, I certainly enjoyed a morning spent sledding with my children. But, what I didn’t particularly care for, was coming home to find I’d locked us all out of the house. Oh, I had my house keys in my coat pocket, but, it was the storm door lock that was preventing our entry into the house. I had no key for that, and no amount of jiggling would release the lock.

My toddler whined from exhaustion, hunger and probably frostbite! I could hear the phone ringing repeatedly, inside…probably my husband telling me he was snowed in at the airport and would be home until tomorrow! Frustrated, but determined not to have a repair job waiting waiting for him when he returned, I borrowed a screwdriver from my neighbor. Carefully, I removed the screws from the entire door frame. Unfortunately, that loosened only the frame…the lock was still firmly intact! Vigorously, I juggled the handle, hope the glass wouldn’t fall out at my feet. Miraculously, it opened. One small victory for me!

A few weeks later, I hopped into my car, planning to run a few errands. As I turned the key in the ignition, nothing happened. I wondered out loud, “What is wrong with the car?” My three year old matter of factly replied, “Oh, I left the light on, Mom!” as if she had purposefully turned the lights on and left them burned through the night, so the car battery would now be dead and we would be going nowhere fast! Apparently, she had pulled the switch while exiting the care the previous day, what possessed her to do this? WHO KNOWS!? Did we have jumper cables? OF COURSE, WE DID! Where where they? IN PHILADELPHIA, WITH MY HUSBAND, WHERE ELSE? “I’m sorry, Mommy, I’ll never do it again,” she said so sweetly and sincerely. How could I stay mad? I tracked down a friend whose husband had jumper cables. He came over and the care was soon functional again. Just tell me, why do these things happen ONLY when my husband is out of these exercises in self sufficiency? Will I really look back and laugh someday?