Keeping Warm
Today was a pretty good day.
I taught an hour science program to a group of grade ones then went to visit my best friend and her adorable sons. Her mom was visiting from up north, which was an added bonus because we don't get to visit very often. The afternoon was spent playing and chatting over coffee and cake, watching the boys stare at Toy Story on TV and talking about the wedding. (Apparently this is going to be a main topic of conversation with me for a looong time)
I drove home for dinner and ended up picking Jeremy up on his way home from work. When we walked in the door, we noticed right away that it was pretty cold in the kitchen. And the tile floor felt like ice. Walking further into the apartment, is became obvious that the furnace had been off for several hours.
After checking the heater, we called the landlord, who immediately called his contact for heating. It seemed like things were going to be taken care off pretty fast when we received a call from a repairman within a half hour of calling our landlord. Unfortunately, the repairman didn't have the replacement part required to fix our heater and after several calls told us we'd have no heat until the morning.
Jeremy: So what are we supposed to do for heat?
Repairman: Put on some extra sweaters.
What a nice guy, huh!
After another call to the landlord, who was pretty angry that this was happening, we realized it would be morning before there would be any heat. So I started making phone calls...
There aren't a lot of numbers in my cell phone's contact list, but every one of them can be counted on if we need them. And every one of them offered to help, some by calling people they knew to find space heaters, others offering a warm bed for the night, and others offering what they had without hesitation. One of my friends unplugged her portable radiator, used daily to warm the rec room in the basement of her house and said they'd be fine without it for a day.
And those were just the people I called tonight. There are several more who I'm sure would have offered to help if we asked.
Interestingly, neither the upper or lower apartment residents seem to have located heaters for themselves. We had an extra one and lent it to the people upstairs, whose place is usually at least 4 degrees colder than ours. If there'd been another, we would have brought it downstairs. But I can't help but wonder why they couldn't find their own. Didn't they have anybody to call? Or did their friends and family just not have heaters to lend?
Just a little thing really - one night without heat. But it made me realize just how lucky we are.
I taught an hour science program to a group of grade ones then went to visit my best friend and her adorable sons. Her mom was visiting from up north, which was an added bonus because we don't get to visit very often. The afternoon was spent playing and chatting over coffee and cake, watching the boys stare at Toy Story on TV and talking about the wedding. (Apparently this is going to be a main topic of conversation with me for a looong time)
I drove home for dinner and ended up picking Jeremy up on his way home from work. When we walked in the door, we noticed right away that it was pretty cold in the kitchen. And the tile floor felt like ice. Walking further into the apartment, is became obvious that the furnace had been off for several hours.
After checking the heater, we called the landlord, who immediately called his contact for heating. It seemed like things were going to be taken care off pretty fast when we received a call from a repairman within a half hour of calling our landlord. Unfortunately, the repairman didn't have the replacement part required to fix our heater and after several calls told us we'd have no heat until the morning.
Jeremy: So what are we supposed to do for heat?
Repairman: Put on some extra sweaters.
What a nice guy, huh!
After another call to the landlord, who was pretty angry that this was happening, we realized it would be morning before there would be any heat. So I started making phone calls...
There aren't a lot of numbers in my cell phone's contact list, but every one of them can be counted on if we need them. And every one of them offered to help, some by calling people they knew to find space heaters, others offering a warm bed for the night, and others offering what they had without hesitation. One of my friends unplugged her portable radiator, used daily to warm the rec room in the basement of her house and said they'd be fine without it for a day.
And those were just the people I called tonight. There are several more who I'm sure would have offered to help if we asked.
Interestingly, neither the upper or lower apartment residents seem to have located heaters for themselves. We had an extra one and lent it to the people upstairs, whose place is usually at least 4 degrees colder than ours. If there'd been another, we would have brought it downstairs. But I can't help but wonder why they couldn't find their own. Didn't they have anybody to call? Or did their friends and family just not have heaters to lend?
Just a little thing really - one night without heat. But it made me realize just how lucky we are.
posted by Melinda @ 10:07 PM
3 Comments:
At 1:06 PM,
Suldog said…
Isn't it great to find out you're loved, especially when you come about the knowledge in a completely innocent way? You're bless, for sure.
Here's a similar story, but with different result, showing how blessed WE are. We had our furnace go out about two years ago. We called our landlord, and we told him that we knew it was late (about 10pm) and that we could get by for the night, but would he send someone to fix it tomorrow while we were at work? Our landlord said, "No! You can't be expected to go the night without heat! It's 20 degreees (F)!"
He had someone come by, no doubt at double rates, by 11pm. We had heat by midnight, God bless him.
At 6:06 PM,
Melinda said…
Wow he sounds like an amazing landlord! It's stories like that that remind me of how great people can be.
At 8:39 AM,
Suldog said…
I have given you an award. Please don't hit me.
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