It's Just a Refrigerator

Today’s extra penny.

I have all of about 5 minutes to write about something weighing heavily on my mind… life. What can I possibly write about in 5 minutes having to do with something as deeply as the topic “life”? Well, mostly the fact that I realize there is nowhere in print that it should be taken seriously. A series of unfortunate events has brought this to light for me in the last several weeks.

As my wonderfully, relaxing summer began, I was hit with the fact that I would probably need new field lines for my septic tank . Soon afterwards I realized that my dishwasher needed some TLC to work its best, and apparently I am the only person who knows how to stroke its ego. I needed 2 new tires; one of which, within 3 weeks, found a nice screw in the road and needed repair. I broke a vacuum cleaner, knocked over and cracked my stained glass lamp, left the gas on, on the grill, so a new tank was needed I knocked myself “offline” by playing around on my computer (thank you Knology man for coming and fixing that). But then, then comes the refrigerator. Ah, the fridge… slowly the cool, was not so cool. And, on the night of my “party”, it decided to say “hmmmm, yeah, I’m about done”. Luckily it was cold enough that I’m pretty sure no one got sick (or they’re too sick to call and tell me), but we did have to empty it out, defrost it, and try a few things. As of now, it’s temporarily back in working order; but for a couple of days things like “The milk is in the blue cooler…it’s still good. And if you get hungry, the lunch meat is in the other cooler. I think it’s okay, too. The mustard is in the cooler on the counter…” were common.

My point is this… while all of these bumps in the road of life have the momentary feel of Mt. Everest, they are just bumps. They are, refrigerators. And that became a household phrase this weekend. When something frustrating would creep up, like when I accidentally whapped my son’s (full) bowl of popcorn and it went flinging up into the air like a scene from a movie, everyone stopped, awaiting my reaction…. I fell to the floor half-laughing, scooping up the remains of my mishap. My son, helping me, said “It’s just a refrigerator, Mom”. He is so right. We are all healthy and happy. These bumps in the road of life, they’re just refrigerators.

Becky
Originally posted July 26, 2010