Expect To Be Humbled

Expect To Be Humbled

I’ve always thought of myself as Yogi Bear used to say “Smarter than the Average Bear!”  Yet as life treats us well, and doesn’t throw us any challenges, we forget that there is a humbling waiting at every turn.  It’s easy to see those lessons at every corner.

Another of my favorite saying is that if you have children you most likely will be humbled when you least expect it.  That is not to say that I expect bad things from all children, but it does mean that their inexperience will come through when you least expect it and embarrass you.  I’ve recently watched some television programing where very wealthy people involved in financial fraud schemes got caught and arrested.  They actually looked not only human but actually looked like weaklings where right up to the arrest they had been all-powerful.

This time around the humbling is of a more personal nature.  I was walking into the garage through the mud room, and I heard a high pitch whine as I walked past the central heating furnace. I recognized the sound as a fan bearing gone bad.  Before I could reach the wall switch to turn it off, it went back to normal.  In my mind I made the decision to keep it running after all the nights are getting into the low 30’s.  My on call technician was down with the flu, and no one else was able to respond in less than 4 days.  The humbling comes in that I am reminded of how it was to grow up in a household where my stepfather was frugal, and would turn off the heat by 9 pm to save money.  The first to wake up around 4 am would start the oil heater to warm up the house, and believe me you could see your breath in the house.

Well, the emergency forced us to survive with the use of the fireplace heat (which is turned off when we go to bed) and an electric (reflective) heater which we turn on to low in the bedroom.  I must admit that you get so lulled into the comforts of just trusting the systems all around you that you never even give comfort a second thought.  My wife has been baking during the day to make use of the heat from the oven to keep warm, and wearing layered clothing also helps.

Always remember to expect the unexpected, and by all means be grateful for all the comforts that you enjoy.  Our furnace will be repaired or replaced within the next 24 hours, for now I am grateful for my blessings.  The best is yet to come….