It's -9 degrees this morning, and sometimes that is a Mink Creek kind of day, a challenging day with some opposition, but one thing I've learned over all of these years is that you never have to face your challenges alone. There will always be someone able and willing to lend a hand or give advice and an encouraging word. You just have to be willing to listen and accept. Back in that one bedroom apartment we found our "helping hands" in "Grandma O'brien and Papa Don," (these names were given to them by our little Hannah who was 2 at the time). The O'brien's were a retired couple who lived directly across the street from us on Roosevelt Avenue. I'm sure they watched the newly weds with jovial interest. Papa Don was a retired Chrysler mechanic and Nelda was an expert in all of the domestic arts and they were more than happy to take us under their wings and teach us some important skills.
For example; Papa Don diagnosed that the U-joints were bad in our car. "They're easy to replace," he said. "You take the drive line down and they just slip out." It was cold outside so Wynn brought the greasy parts in on the living room rug. The U joints did not just "slip out." Wynn worked on it all day long and by nightfall, my persistent sweetheart was swinging a borrowed sledge hammer in the living room. I clapped my hands over my ears to block out the deafening ringing and took cover in the bedroom from the flying shrapnel. The next morning I found Wynn asleep on the couch with a smile on his face and the shiny new U-joints right where they were supposed to be. That was the first of a long line of car repairs that would stand as milestones in our marriage. One success led to another. I had lunch everyday for weeks with the carburettor on the kitchen table and even after it was back in the car there were some stray screws to keep me company. But, Wynn wasn't the only one being tutored. Nelda O'brien had many things to teach me, and I was an eager, though klutzy, student. I'll save that for tomorrow. Remember, if your eyes are open and you're willing; there is something to learn and someone willing to teach it to you and that makes for my kind of a day.