We moved into our rent home far away from many modern conveniences on a Tuesday. By Thursday, it was obvious our refrigerator wasn’t working. While the AC repair man was checking why our AC wasn’t working (that is a post for another day!), I asked him if he could check the temp in our fridge with his temp gauge. “It doesn’t seem to be cooling ma’am,” stated the courteous AC repair man. Perfect. Luckily, we hadn’t even had time to go grocery shopping since officially moving in.
A quick trip to the gas station and everything worth saving was in a cooler and on ice. In my old life, I would have had a plethora of options for solving this inconvenient problem. But, I was in a new, foreign place. Out of sheer pity, the AC repairman gave me a few leads, but no one could help me. Recalling seeing some paperwork about the appliance upon moving in, I dug around and found some helpful docs. Sears! They have a Sears!
The next day, a Sears repairman came to the house to inform us that a very crucial part had to be replaced. He would have to order the part and it would be at least 5 days until he got it in. Five days without a fridge? How much is the part and repairs going to cost? Okay, deep breaths.
We are renting this home and the fridge appears to be less than two years old. I begin chatting with the repairman knowing that complaining isn’t going to get the thing fixed faster. Seeing the panic on my face and probably realizing that my AC was also on the fritz, he makes a few calls and discovers that the fridge is under warranty. He gives me everything I need so that the home owner can claim the repair on the plan she purchased through Sears. One of the many benefits of living in a small town: going the extra mile for your neighbor.
It took 12 days for our fridge to get up and running again but it didn’t cost us a penny. Had this happened in the town where we used to live, I’m quite certain it would have been fixed faster, but I seriously doubt my repairman would have gone to all that trouble to make sure I didn’t have to pay for the repairs.
And, that’s a trade off I’m willing to live with.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
And So the Journey Begins...
At the urging of some friends, I have started a blog to chronicle our family’s recent switch in our surroundings, routines and perspectives on life.
Recently, our family moved from a suburb near a large city where we had spent the last six years entrenching ourselves in the community. We built our dream home and planned to stay until the kids graduated from high school. Our daughter was born four years ago and that was the only place she knew. I was heavily involved in the PTA, my husband and I both served at our local church, our children were loved by so many people and our son, a 10-year-old math and science genius, was attending a special program.
All that changed when we learned our very best friends were moving away to start something that we knew we wanted to be a part of. My gut told me that we had to follow them. This line of thinking was irrational and not like me. I couldn’t help but notice that anytime I spoke of this possible life switch, my eyes lit up and my insides sparkled. Nothing about this crazy idea seemed crazy when I vocalized our plans aloud. How could this be?
Following this line of thinking meant uprooting our family and everything we knew and moving to a small town with very few job prospects and even fewer things to do for fun.
And that’s exactly what we did.
I hope that you will consider joining me on this journey of self discovery as I learn what it’s like to trade in my big city dreams for small town bliss.