A few years ago, my wife and I were in Oklahoma to remodel a house we owned on some acreage. After looking at it, we decided there was a lot of work to be done. For one thing, there was an enormous room and we decided that it could be converted into two good sized bedrooms. We also needed to remodel one of the bathrooms and completely redo the kitchen – new cabinets, new hot water heater, and on and on.
We had come up from Texas with as many tools as we could get in our small pickup. We spent so much time at Home Depot that summer that we became good friends with one of the associates there. He and his wife have visited us in Texas and we have visited them in their home in Oklahoma.
The house is in a thinly populated area, so there were few close neighbors. We were more than a little surprised when a man just walked into the house and started watching our efforts. After awhile, he made a couple of suggestions on how we might accomplish a task more easily.
After hanging around for nearly an hour, he asked, “Are you staying here at night?”
It was clear no one was staying in this house at night. There was no furniture, and it was certainly not fit for sleeping. I said, no, we were staying in a nearby motel.
He looked around at our tools and asked, “Do you just leave your tools here at night?”
This gave me pause. Why did he want to know about our tools? Finally I said we locked the place up when we left. I tried to make it sound like it was secure. Don’t even think about breaking in.
He acknowledged my statement, turned around and disappeared.
My wife and I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t have many expensive tools here. We had come up in a small Ranger pickup, so space didn’t allow for much, and certainly nothing large. Still, there were several power tools that would be a little expensive to replace.
About thirty minutes later, he walked in again. “My name is Gary. If you will really lock things up tight, I’ve got some power tools that will make your job easier.” He produced a nail gun with various attachments for heavy work or trim work. He offered other tools to make the installation of door hardware easier, faster, and more professionally done.
He said he only lived a half a mile away, but wouldn’t always be around to either deliver or take back the tools, so he would leave them in my care.
Over the next few weeks, he popped in frequently, always with some sound advice and frequently pitching in and helping. And when we were ready to paint the outside, he provided a professional paint sprayer and hoses, after giving me instructions on how to use and clean the equipment.
As with the man from the Home Depot, we became friends with Gary. And to this day, he remains a good friend.
We learned a lot during the renovation. And one valuable lesson was that good friends are all around just waiting for you to be a friend.
