Upsetting the Cart

While trying to get our special generator for solar systems working, the generator battery would die. Then we’d recharged. It would run for about seven hours but not recharge itself in the process. At first, we thought it was a faulty battery.

We borrowed from our neighbor Nick but his did the same. Eventually we bought a new battery all together. Still without success. Jer did what he always does, lots and lots of research. What we found out was that this particular generator didn’t recharge itself but if we had JUST bought the next generation of this generator, it would. Nick had guided us in this purchase.

We have been so grateful for the help Nick has given us over the last few years but have learned his information isn’t always correct. One Saturday at 6:45am in the morning there was a knock at our front door. You need to understand that any knock on our door is a surprise because people don’t come to our home generally. We were both asleep in bed.

Jer hopped up to answer the door. There stood Nick. He told Jer he’d been up since 4am looking for a tool to help us with the generator battery and he wanted to work on it NOW. In the couple years of him helping us, we knew never to go over to his home or expect him before 9:30am or later. Not only were we shocked, but Jer tried to kindly tell him we needed to get up, dress, let the dog out, and have breakfast first.

Nick left, probably expecting Jer to rush over right after breakfast but Jer already knew that what Nick was suggesting wouldn’t work. We planned to stop by the following day on our way out but received an email from a very upset Nick. He felt unappreciated in his efforts to help us, reiterating again that he had been up since 4 am. He had never done this before, nor did we know he was planning this intervention for us before that day.

Jer responded very kindly apologizing. Nick basically told us to bring all his tools back and that he wouldn’t have time to help us for the next couple of months. Before we left, we took all his things to him. I sat in the car and listened while Jer re-apologize three more times. Nick softened a little but kind of blamed it on me because, “Us women just need to understand that living up here isn’t an 8am-5pm kind of living.”

Fortunately, we’ve been able to set the cart upright again and help him and his wife with their home since then. Jer and I never meant to offend and upset the friendship cart. We had just grown in knowledge and were finding our own way to complete our goals.