Monday, May 12, 2008

lions and tigers and burdens to bear


You have heard me talk about my friend and neighbor, Bill. He was the mentor I mentioned in mending wall.

Bill happened to read my post on my mechanical problems with my Ford Escape: pennies to heaven. Like the good neighbor he is, he came over as I was leafing through an historical atlas of early Mexican civilizations while finishing up my dinner in the hot tub. (To clarify. I was in the hot tub, not my dinner. Even though that has also happened on more than one occasion.)

His advice was to keep the Escape and take it to a good mechanic. There is nothing drastically wrong with it. I just need to monitor the oil level. He walked me through some very practical scenarios -- and buying a new or used vehicle simply does not make sense at this point.

I also heard from Michael Dickson who is in the process of looking for a new car. Once I get to Mexico, I can look at the option of purchasing a car in country. But only after I have sage advice from friends like Bill and Michael. (I should note that my frequent correspondent "Juan Calypso" provided the same advice as Bill. But he added a nice twist: bring the Escape to Mexico for great repairs at low costs.)

As we journey through life, we often forget that we encounter people every day who are willing to help bear our burdens. This is just another example of that simple truth -- that we took often forget in the busy-ness of our day.

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