The Dudes who Carried my Burden

By Amy


First of all...no, this isn't a post reporting on my menu plan for the week.

I found out we may possibly go out of town for a few days this week, therefore, my brain found a very feasible excuse and shut down to meal planning.  I dread making decisions about a topic I have avoided for so long.   But, it will happen!  Just you wait and see!

Can't I just make a list of my favorite cereals and fast food joints?  That counts as a meal-plan for the week, right?  *Sigh*

Here's a story instead.

Last week, my husband and I decided that the time had come to salute our washer and send it to appliance heaven. 

The agitator thingy was barely even moving our clothes back and forth, and they weren't getting completely clean...let me tell you, it ain't too pleasant to grab a shirt from the clean clothes basket, pull it over your head... and get a light wiff of b.o. from the pits. *yuck*  Um, excuse me?  These clothes are supposed to be CLEAN!  Either I've developed a severe sweating problem, or our washer is about to kick the bucket.  Thank goodness it didn't end up being a personal problem--just an appliance problem.

So after putting it off for a couple weeks, we found a washer at a garage sale for $30!  (Student budget friendly!) The guy selling it said it worked fine, it was just squeaky.  We're thinking, "Prolly just needs a belt replaced. NBD.  We'll still end up only paying fity bucks for a washer!  Tra la la!"  ---But don't get all jealous.  Cause we brought it into the house (with me huffin and puffin and trying to keep my sweaty hands from losing grip on the thing...it was in the 90s that day, of course) then my husband hooked it up, and....

it was louder than a jumbo jet filled with bagpipers.  We could barely yell over it!  I was like, "IT'S FREAKIN LOUD!"  and my husband was like, "WHAT??"

Yeah.  No good.  It was more than a belt.  The pump and some other thingy was messed up too.  It was LOUD.  Our w/d hook-ups are in my son's room, and I often run it during his nap and when he goes to bed at night, so that wasn't going to fly.

Plus we have neighbors below us.

Hayden "helping" his dad.

Plus, I don't want to lose my hearing or be driven to insanity.

So my husband and I packed that one out.  (We only banged up one wall on the way out.)

Here's the 4th washer in this room in the past three days.  It better work!!!

Then we tried a Craigslist find, packed it in, and THAT one was messed up too!  By this time, my husband was fed-up and I was so done with carrying washers.  I mean, I'm no weakling, I grew up hauling hay bales for my dad, and I believe that girls can do hard work, but a washer is quite heavy and bulky--and when you tilt it, nasty old stinky water pours out onto your favorite sneaks.   

So, here we are, hauling out another washer.  My hands are aching, arms a-trembling, and sweat is trickling down my back (it was a blasted hot day, remember).  I'm trying to be a tough, non-whiny wife, but I was starting to panic about the the last lift: getting that beast up into the truck.  Then...as we slowly lumbered with the fool thing down the steps and sidewalk in front of our house, a miracle happened.

A car stopped right in the middle of the road, next to our parked truck.  Just like that, two old rough-looking dudes jumped out and literally lifted the washer right out of my hands, saying, "We'll get this for ya!"  I was so grateful.  My arms probably would have just given out and it would have been curtains for me. "RIP Amy Graham...Crushed underneath a washer."

After the washer was safely situated, we thanked them like 10 times--which they just blew off--then they hopped back in their old car and drove on!

Well, I never expected angels to be middle-aged hairy guys wearing old plaid shirts and baseball caps, but those washer-lifting dudes were angels to me.
-Amy

Ps. What acts of kindness have you experienced/seen lately?  I'd love to hear, so don't be shy!  Post your story in the comments section of the "Acts of Kindness" post, or email me your story at amy.the.graham (at) gmail.com.  Thanks! :)

Tweet