Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Funny Thing Happened Today....


Not really a "thing", but a question that happened today.

I was asked to go to a shop in the northern part of Nashville & pick up some signs. I was told to make sure I checked the spelling. Me? Check SPELLING? Come on...I did not even learn to read until I was 13. Yes, folks, that is true. Had to take special ed classes to get there. ANYWAY - that wasn't the question.

I didn't know where I was going & said person that told me to fetch the signs, didn't have the address so I could not plug it in the Garmin. I found the shop...WAY on the north side. I sure thought I was getting lost...Picked up the signs & proof read them. They seemed spelled right to me. Used the credit card (corp C.C.) and the young girl was really chatty, extrememly freindly... ('course I don't meet a stranger...) She must NOT have looked at the card, nor who the ticket was wrote for & she askes me - "Are you picking these up for your husband?" - NO, I was picking them up for the company I work for..

She asks "Well, are you married?" (I thought this was sort of odd.....) i said yes, 20 years, last April. Here comes THE QUESTION.....She says " Well, how'd you do that?" I said DO WHAT? She says "Stay married for 20 years? I'd like to know - because we're working on 18 months & I don't know if we'll ever make 20."

I told her that above & beyond loving one another. Prince Charming is my best friend. We don't argue. Ever. (which is not to say that I'm wrong or he's right - we either agree to disagree or compromise....) And we live debt free, except for our mortgage (which should be eliminated in 5 years). she askes: " So? that's IT?" and I said well there's one more thing...if you can BUILD something - BUILD anything...finish it, be proud of it & enjoy the process TOGETHER...then it will always work. And it HAS.

I guess that answer sounded wholly too simple. She was very skeptical.

I'm looking forward to an additional good 20 years!!!

Sam

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL! Can't imagine asking someone this while selling. Must have had divorce on the brain.

Good answer!

Patty said...

Good for you! I think couples throw in the towel way to fast... divorce is too easy these days... I guess it's a sign of our throw-away society!!!

Skeeredofbarkingspiders said...

Build Something I agree well kinda lol.. Building or repairing something is definately a way to tell if your marriage is Strong. I hafto tell you about my experience well the other day I noticed the Toliet leaking between the Tank and the Bowl. I turn the cutoff to the toliet to the off position and I go tell shane about my findings. I tell him that we are going to hafto replace the gaskets and Bolts from the tank to the bowl and just in case I had him to purchase a Flush Valve because ours looked worn and plastic was chipping from the top.. Of course he agrees with me because a Handyman he is not. I send him to the Store with a paper that says Fluidmaster Flush Valve, gasket, and bolts. They sell them in a Toliet repair Kit at lowe's it is a whole lot cheaper to buy the kit then the parts individually of course I know that I did not need the the Fill Valve on the above toliet but I had postponed replacing the one in our bedroom bath so i could just kill two birds with one stone so to speak. So off he is to the store of course I phone ahead and let them know that my husband is coming and exactly what I need because I know just as soon as he gets there he finds the closest Help Button. When he arrives home I pull everything out of the boxes and make sure no parts are missing as I instruct him on how to take everything apart. He manages to get one bolt undone with no problem then he asks me to come look. Of course I was thinking this was going to be a easy task and it was not. Whoever replaced the Flush Valve last had used one bolt made for toliet repair and the other bolt was a regular old hex bolt probably not made to be sittin in water for long amounts of time. The Hex Bolt was rusted really bad it had rust encrusted on top of it and until I beat it off with a screwdriver I never noticed that it was actually Hex. I have now found the Leak.. of course a rusted bolt would lead to a leak but not only that someone had tried to repair this before and had loosened the bolt about halfway and either could not or did not try to tighten the bolt back up so the tank was actually moving and the bolt would lift up about 1/2 a inch which was enough to lift the washer up and cause the water to leak down the bolt and onto the floor. The problem with that is that with the water running down the length of the bolt now the nut on the end was rusted in place. Thank Goodness for the give in the bolt because I manage to instruct the husband on how to take the blade off the hacksaw and use it to cut the bolt off (removing the blade was required because no room for the whole saw). Of course under my breath I am giving a good firm cussin to the person that tried to repair the toliet last. Once the bolt was cut the rest was a breeze. Tank was off.. I cleaned the tile behind the tank and the tank itself why must people place the toliet completely against the wall??.. you would not believe the gunk that grows back there because you are unable to reach it. After we get the tank back on and checked for leaks. I tell him I am really proud of him. Of course I know that I could have done that and it went a little quicker but, letting him have that feeling of accomplishment is well worth it and the fact that we can get thru replacing the Flush Valve in a Toliet without losing our cool with each other even when things get a little complicated is a sure sign of a Strong marriage.