People continue to surprise me with their generosity. Not with their money but with their time and effort. One photo is the aftermath of Duke Energy contractors removing our 50+ year old Houghton Lake Michigan spruce from the wires on the morning of Thursday April 3rd after the fierce windstorm overnight. The other photo shows it hanging in the wires. The lights you see in the middle are sections of the tree still on fire several hours after coming down. Thank God the wind came with a heavy and long downpour.
The Duke Contractors arrived so quickly and secured the situation but from there it was up to the homeowner (me). I had arranged for my friend Steve Long to bring his chainsaw down to cut the trunk into manageable pieces once I had removed all the branches. Here’s where the goodness comes in! Charlie Smith was walking the dogs of his wife’s former employer on Saturday morning and saw me working. He must have gone home to Norwood after he finished because within an hour he came back and told me “I really love using my chainsaw, would you let me help you?” Taking one from my Mother’s playbook of “not wanting to impose,” I said I had my friend ready to help me later but thanks anyway. That wasn’t going to fly with Charlie. “I have both of my chainsaws in back and can start right now.” So off he goes with me helping and trying not to get hurt! Several hours later we (really Charlie) have that whole trunk reduced to sections able to be taken to the backyard for splitting.
Now the surprise. Both of us tired and wet (a light rain never stopped) as he loads up his equipment and then turns to me and says “Hey, thanks a lot for letting me help.” “Help, heck you did most of the hard work” I said and then expressed my gratitude. He responded “so many people just won’t accept help from a stranger anymore – especially from an old man! It means a lot to me to still be able to help people.”
Two lessons for me and I hope for you too. First, offer to help when you have the capacity. It may be easier to just walk by but Charlie’s help that day was so important. Second, be gracious enough to accept help. We all know how good it feels to be able to help someone, especially when they aren’t expecting it. Do someone a favor and let them have that feeling too!
