Every morning I leave the house these past days I’m ever so thankful for not having to confront frozen earth, ice, snow, and all the other miseries a normal winter has to offer. Perhaps Mother Nature is starting to follow the standard in which winter doesn’t normally begin until the 21st of this month. With that said, instead of having to deal with the four or five months of winter we’ve endured over the years, we’ll have but three. I’d be exceptionally happy about that should it be an annual occurrence. One of the reasons I never liked Fall much is due to it being short-lived as well as the annual harbinger of Winter. I asked a customer this evening about his normal regimen of running after work and he informed me he didn’t like running outside in the darkness to where now he goes to one of the fitness centers to continue with daily regimen. I fully agreed with him in how too many people who would like to be outside exercising really can’t due to the hazards of the dark paths and unwary drivers. I’d have to have a spotlight in front of me at all times and dressed in florescent orange running togs before feeling comfortable enough to be out running the dark streets. Of course I’d probably be causing accidents with the drivers-by from their doing rubber-necks on me.
I have to internally smile sometimes when seeing people insisting on performing jobs the harder and more costly way instead of doing a bit more planning and calculating. I happened to turn the corner of a street and noticed a client of mine standing at the curb pulling something out of the back of his SUV. Since he saw me, I thought it best to pull over for a short visit. When I got out of my car, I noticed he was lifting out of his vehicle three five gallon along with three single gallon buckets of paint. Mr. Big Mouth here said, “What are you doing with all this paint? He said, “I’m painting the inside of this house you sold me last year.” I looked at the paint and then looked at him and said, “All that paint for this small house?” Oops, I shouldn’t have said that because he gave me the look of, “Mind your own business Mr. Big Mouth.” I quickly changed the subject and asked about his wife and children along with wishing him a quick and easy paint job along with pleasant Holidays.” While driving away, the only thing I could think of were all those gallons of paint. My naughty mind wandered while calculating what he’d have to paint in that house to get it all used. He’d have to paint all the walls and ceilings at least three times, the floors, the bathtub, toilet, sink, kitchen sink, all the cabinets, the doors, the woodwork, the basement stairs, the basement floor, the basement floor joists, the front and back steps, and maybe even himself before all 18 gallons would be used. There are times when going the extra mile for someone is meant to be. I was asked to go and pick up some papers from a woman who’d just ended a bad relationship. She was supposed to drop them off but had to work overtime so I agreed to go and get them.
Since she had a moment to chat, I asked her how things were going and she said fine. I mentioned she looked less stressed since the last time I saw her. I said, “Sometimes it’s just better to come home to yourself.” After a moment she grabbed her cell phone to show me a picture she took of a painting she’d done on wood. I was amazed at the quality of workmanship and I certainly encouraged her to continue. She must have been quite impressed with my comments regarding her painting ability because she was blushing. Before I left I said, “More people really must start drawing out their inner talents whether it be with a needle or brush because handmade items are not only original, but to be considered one of a kind.” Yes, being side-tracked sometimes can benefit everyone involved.
