Contentment in Brokenness
My bearded brute is a Harley guy, and I discovered I enjoy riding with him. I usually sit behind him on his "geezer-glide" in the comfy seat, and I'm snug as a bug in a rug. He breaks the wind and catches most of the bugs. I get to sit close to my sweetie and take in the beauty of God's world as we ride. It's a win-win for me. He thought I should learn to ride a bike of my own. Several years ago, he found me a smaller road bike, and we bought it so I could learn to ride on my own. Learning to ride the bike on my own didn't go so well. I didn't enjoy curves much, but I was beginning to get the hang of them. However, the hope that I would ever ride along with him on the highway came to a screeching halt when we discovered 35mph was the fastest I was willing to go. Yikes. Sorry, Steve. I prefer four wheels under me when I'm doing the driving.
So, he had a new mission. Find Heidi a convertible. He knows me well and found the perfect little car. He bought me a darling 2005 VW Beetle convertible. It's even the color he knows I love; pearly white with a tan top. I was in love. Ok, I need to be honest with you. I don't think they make these cars to last. There were many little things wrong with it, but it still went down the road, and the radio worked. What else could I need? I was giddy and loved bopping around town in my bug.
I've had it for about four years now, and every year there are a few new glitches, but I'm just dealing with them because it's a fun car, it's good on gas, and it was cheap. It's not worth fixing some of the issues because the car just isn't worth a lot. Well, last year, the trunk quit opening. Hmm. I think there are some jumper cables in there, but not sure what else I may never see again. No problem, I don't use the trunk that often anyway. The passenger door quit opening from the outside but no biggie because I could open it from the inside. The back window on the driver's side got stuck down and wouldn't go up (the other rear window never worked with power, but I could push it up and down by hand). I tried to take it to a glass place to see if they could help me out, but the estimate was like $1200, and I don't think the whole car is worth that much. So I decided I'd try to get my boys to YouTube it and help their Mom out. Well, winter came, and we never fixed the window. Luckily we don't live in blizzard ally, so it was ok.
Spring arrived, and the price of gas had me anxious to get my little car on the road. My bearded brute had to charge the battery and give me a jump, but it started right up and kept starting after it ran for a while. It was a sunny spring day, and I took off for town in my little car. A few miles down the road, I realized that my speedometer wasn't working. I called my mechanic son, and he suggested I disconnect the battery to reset it. My do-it-all friend Lisa found a wrench and gave me a hand. If I had a wrench, it was in the trunk, but obviously, that wouldn't help me. It didn't work; still no speedometer. Steve suggested I not drive faster than anyone else if I wanted to go for it. So, I went for it. I buzzed around, ran some errands, and hopped in and out of my car all day. It was glorious.
My last stop was at a friend's house to drop off some bible study homework. When I got back out to my little bug, the driver's door wouldn't open. What? Oh no! Seriously? What else could go wrong with this car? To my benefit, I could push the passenger side rear window down from the outside by hand, and I could then reach in and use the inside handle to open the passenger door. I then crawled over the stick shift into the driver's seat. I just want to note that I am not young or small. I hope no one was watching the show. I started her up and drove home.
Two days later, I crawled back in the passenger door and headed to my boys' house an hour away to utilize their YouTubing education and get their help with the window (and now the driver's door). I arrived at about 9:30, and they worked on my car for 11 hours. First, we had to remove the back seat, one of the front seats, the door panel, and the backside panel.
I say "we" throughout my story because I was there, but I can't say I actually helped. I did, however, offer a million suggestions, so I will still say 'we.' We managed to get the driver's door open. Yahoo! And then we removed the stuck window from the car. Early evening, we figured out how to make the window a "manual" like the other one and started putting it back in the car. At hour 9 on this job, we celebrated that we were on the homestretch by putting everything back together. Well, the ending wasn't great. Two of us were waiting for the third to grab a tool, and poof (crash?), the window exploded into a million tiny pieces. The only thing I could do was laugh. Oh well. At least the driver's door opens. I didn't have a window last year either; I can live with that.
My darling son, the head of the operation, hung his head low. He's a bit of a perfectionist, and doing the job in such a janky manor and then breaking the window at the end was harder on him. So I said, "close it up," and he made me get the vacuum to clean up all the glass in the fender (I was just going to leave it there); he couldn't leave it like that. He felt bad because now it would actually cost me something to fix the window. And we were so close.
What are the lessons in this? First of all, you really can learn to do almost anything on YouTube. Second, having sons willing to help their Mom out is priceless. So, I recommend having a few. Third, don't tighten a bolt glass too much it will explode. Fourth, sometimes you will work for 11 hours on a project and be further from done than when you started. Four and a half, getting mad doesn't help when things go wrong but laughing them off makes life for everyone better. Fifth, 11 hours spent with your loved ones and dinner at the end of the night are worth more than the project that may or may not have been accomplished. When a mom can step back and watch her grown children working on a project together, laugh together, not kill each other, and then want to enjoy a meal together, she is blessed. Sixth, even though convertible VW Beetles tend to have a lot of stuff break on them, they are still a lot of fun to drive. Who needs all the extras anyway? It's God and me on the open road. I am truly blessed. I endeavor to learn from the Apostle Paul on this. Philippians 4:11-12, "I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know both how to have a little and how to have a lot. I have learned the secret of being content in any and all circumstances—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."
