men

the leaky toilet story below brought back a
memory....

years ago, when the kids and i were first on
our own, and my guy was just barely in my life...

the boys were fixing our car. knowing nothing of
mechanics, but diggin' in and learning and rebuilding
a car for us anyway. it's honestly, the story of
the century....but it's only a tiny piece of that
story i'll relate here...

the boys taught themselves mechanics. they would
consult books and local mechanics, and any handy person
they came in contact with.

as i watched the process, i was so impressed with
the men all around me. i wonder if it's some unwritten
code of men....but then i think of some other men
i know, and no, i don't think it is.....

but it should be.....
and the really special men seem to know it....

they would give my kids advice (and they were kids at
that point! not the young men they are now)....the men
would offer things they knew, explain things to the kids,
but never invade their space. they never went too far
and stepped on the kids' toes and acted like the kids
couldn't do it.

they all encouraged them, had complete confidence in them,
and said 'go, do it.' their attitudes kept my kids goin'.

at one point they came to a dead stop and asked my guy
for some advice. my guy took the schematic into my living
room and just sat staring at it.

he has several natural gifts of his own, and one of them is
the ability to figure anything out mechanically. and so
there he sat for the longest time just goin' over that
schematic in his head.

i sat and watched. it's so beyond me that i couldn't comprehend
how he did it.

he did it, walked out to the driveway and showed something to
the guys.

tada!

that was it.
and then he let them fix it........

when the kids finally got that car running, i remember
us all piling into that tiny car and delivering goodies to
the guys who really helped my kids out. i shook their hands,
looked them straight in their eyes and told them what they
did for us....and it was way beyond any car that they saw
running.

i gained quite a respect for men thru that, saw them in a
way i had never really seen them before.

what a journey this bein' a mother of sons has been.......