My Tom (15 Years!)

Back when I was a Children's Librarian, I worked with a lady who was also married to a man named Tom--not too amazing considering how many men there are named Tom!  Every time we worked together, she would say, "So how is your Tom?" or she would relate a story about "her" Tom.

So this is a post about my Tom.  Here we are last month on our way out to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary--woo-hoo!

I must brag a bit on my Tom.  He has improved with age in so many ways!  He's a better husband, a better father, a better provider, and a better mama-manager (yes, I do need managing from time to time ;-D)

He's his lowest weight in years and has returned to an activity he hasn't done in almost a decade--5K and 8K runs.  He's completed five runs this year and medaled in four of them!

Even though he's "white collar" by trade, he's not afraid to get his hands dirty when a DIY job calls for it.  The mallet pictured below met with a stubborn rotor on our van.  The good news is that the rotor eventually came off.  The bad news is that this mallet almost met the end of its useful life.

The offending rotor

Some jobs require a drill for each hand!

Changing fluids on the cars

Sometimes it's not grit and grime that's required but a bit of creativity in problem solving.  Like when the cold water button on our water cooler broke.   Before thinking about buying a new one,  Tom took it apart that evening, studied the problem, and saw there was a way to solve it.  We awoke the next morning to a hole drilled into the cold water button and special instructions on how to use a paint brush, pen, pencil, or similarly shaped object to get cold water.  The children love the novelty of it and it happens to prevent Lil' Chunkers from spilling water everywhere now that he can reach the button.  (He's catching on to the paintbrush method, though!)

Is the back of the bench seat in your van coming apart from being kicked too many times?  No problem, even if the screw that held it is long gone.  Tom discovered that zip ties could get the job done.

What if you realize late one Saturday afternoon that you just can't take that rickety, old garage door anymore?  Tom decided to buy a new garage door that afternoon and install it himself.  He's learned from experience that you don't need experience to tackle a difficult job.  After all, how do you ever gain experience?  Once the old door came down, there was no turning back on the new one.  Even when midnight came and went and a thunderstorm rolled in.  Panel by panel he installed it until it was complete.

Victory!

Recently Tom surprised me by installing an item I had mentioned would be nice to have several months ago.  Of course I promptly forgot that I'd mentioned it.  So when he told me to go and look in the kitchen at the job he'd done that I'd requested, I couldn't figure it out.  After looking all around the kitchen and trying to think what it was I'd mentioned, I gave up.  It was a peephole in the back door (the new back door he'd installed himself)--which is in the kitchen!  He made it just the right height for me to look and see who (or what--yes, lots of uppity wildlife around here!) is on the back porch without opening the door.

Sometimes DIY jobs are not done perfectly or are not aesthetically pleasing.  That's not the point.  The point is to make these things functional for our use and enjoyment while being good stewards of the funds God has given us.  When we decided to live debt-free, we quickly realized that we couldn't depend on "professionals" to do every job that might appear on the landscape of life.  Of course for some jobs a professional is required but we've also learned that not every one who calls themselves a "professional" knows what they're doing!  To conserve funds and learn a bit about how the things we use in daily life work, it's best to learn to do some things for ourselves.

Sometimes Tom has many failures on a job before he has any success (especially true for car repairs), but he's never let that stop him from tackling any job that's possible for a novice to do.  It's the Polish way, you know.  

In the Auschwitz concentration camp during WW II, the Nazis were busy perfecting their killing techniques because they wanted the job done exactly right.  (It was their obsession with perfection that was eventually their undoing, in my opinion.)  The Jewish and Gypsy prisoners were largely resigned to their fate, knowing that resistance was futile against the highly organized Nazi machine.  The Polish prisoners, however, were busy stockpiling ingredients for crude, homemade bombs and hiding any weapons they could find.  They were neither concerned with pulling off the perfect escape nor resigned to their fate.  They just knew they weren't going down without a fight.  

I can see that resilient spirit in my Tom.  He can take a licking and keep on ticking, a trait which has served us well over the years.  We've been amazed at what he's accomplished for our family and how the Lord has directed his steps.  We don't have the biggest and best of everything but it's easy to be grateful when we remember what the end will be for all of our material possessions.  

But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,  in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.  Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?                     2 Peter 3:10-12 

It's all going to burn, as they say, and God has given us material things to temporarily use and enjoy in the daily living of our short lives here on earth.  We can't take our stuff with us when we die and it will mean nothing to us after we die.  It's best to prepare and be prepared for eternity.   And though he has no "free time" to speak of, Tom has made a habit of making time for evangelism so that others may also be prepared for eternity.  And he's intentional about making it a family venture and not something he neglects the rest of us to accomplish.  I appreciate that.  And I appreciate my Tom!