Amid the Chaos, the Dryer Breaks

Sometimes amid the chaos all we find is more chaos.  I may be mistaken, but I believe chaos in Greek literally means the point at which you are about to explode.  (Note, I actually did look it up after writing that lie and it really is the Greek word for abyss, at least I got the Greek part right).

On Wednesday I came up from working downstairs exhausted and overwhelmed to find 2 issues, a wife who was also exhausted and overwhelmed and a dryer that was squeaking like crazy.  It’s been a little loud lately, which already drives me crazy, but this time it was a lot loud.

Being the easily annoyed handyman type that I try to be, I went to work.  I turned it on and off a couple of times to see if the noise would stop, and what do you know, it did.  To be precise, it stopped making the noise because the dryer would no longer turn on at all.  It had gone from a squeaky annoying dryer to a broken annoying dryer in very little time.

Now 12 people’s clothes could be washed but would then need to be hung out in the snow to dry.  As this was already a pretty emotional day for both Cassanda and I, I decided not to freak out about it, which would have likely caused a mental breakdown for both parties. 

Given that this was going to be a bit of a financial challenge, given that I am currently working for myself, I was a little worried about cost.  I figured that I had maybe a day to get a good replacement for a good price.  After returning home from my assignment advising a local young men’s group Wednesday evening, I went out in search of the lowest price option I could find.  Did you know the cheapest dryers are $400 at the local hardware stores?  Unfortunately, this also means they are the cheapest dryers, if you know what I mean.

In the end, I was able to find a slightly nicer dryer for a slightly lower cost at another Lowes in another city.  This one was a name brand that was returned by a customer.  So, for $350 dollar, plus tax, and listing the broken dryer for free on a classifieds site, we were back in business.

So, what is the moral to this story, why did I make you read 6 paragraphs about a dryer?  Well, here it is:

1. Things are just things – It has never helped me to get upset when something gets broken.  It doesn’t matter if it was broken by carelessness, accident, or otherwise.  When you pause to realize that things are just things, your life will just be happier.

• Take care of your things – While you shouldn’t get upset when things break, you may also want to keep your kids out of the dryer, it may cost you $350, plus tax, assuming my assumption that them getting inside the dryer for fun was what broke the dryer is correct.

• You’ll make it – Sometimes when things already seem bleak, your figurative, or in our case literal, dryer breaks.  Just remember that Heavenly Father is watching over you, and things will work out as you trust in Him.