A Customer To Remember

[YellowHammer]

We get a lot of customers, but every now and then someone comes to buy lumber that just kind of sticks out.  I had a lady come by today with a young son who was looking for some low grade, inexpensive wood for a tabletop.  It seemd odd as she definately didn't look like a woodworker, but she seemd very independant and definately had a plan.  She picked out and bought a single, wide, low grade oak board and said if we would cut it in half she could then glue it together to make a table top.  She was friendly, conversed a little, but seemed embarrassed when I asked her about the board.  She paid for it in cash, a few bucks, but just seemed so out of place as my wife and I loaded the two 4 foot boards into her car, (her hatch back wouldn't open so we had to feed the boards into the driver side door to get it in the back seat). I heard her tell her son that they would finally be able to eat at a real table.  We pressed the conversation a little and she admitted that she and her son were living in a place that only had "sheetrock walls and no furniture" and this single, glued up board would become her kitchen table. 

When she drove away I couldn't help but think that I'd like to know more of her story, how a nice lady and her son could have ended up in a situation where a single board could mean that much to them, then realized that I probably already knew, and that there were lots of folks out there who were in the same boat. 

It also struck me that this being Easter weekend, maybe the reason she was so focused, so intent on having the board now, today, was so that she and her son could eat Easter dinner on it tomorrow. I'd like to think so, anyway.

I'll remember this customer for awhile.
Happy Easter to all,
YH

[Percy]

  ^^^^^^^^^

[sandsawmill14]

wonderful story  most people never realize how lucky they are!!!

[Nomad]

     Good story, YellowHammer!  Thanks for mentioning that one.

[bandmiller2]

There are many people in this country that have nothing but are gracious good folks, God bless them. Then there are others on welfare that expect the word to give them a living for doing squat. Nice story Hammer. Frank C.

[Peter Drouin]

 

[Glenn1]

It makes me sad to think about this lady and her son.  Hopefully her new table will help her to believe that there is hope for better times. 

Thanks for telling us about them.    It makes me feel thankful for the life that I have, and not taking things for granted. 

[red]

From a place of Hope
Everything looks Different
Just as you know the Sun
Is rising even when
You can't see it
Know in your Heart that
Better Days
are on their Way

[Chuck White]

Great and touching story, YellowHammer, thanks for posting.

I have a feeling they'll be back.

[SawyerBrown]

Great story.  Thanks for sharing.  Kind of makes you look around at what you've been blessed with with a different set of eyes, doesn't it?

[gimpy]

Breaks my heart. It's getting easier and easier to find people in the same boat in every direction. It also breaks my heart seeing the most ads in my local paper are sheriff's sales of property and foreclosures.

[Ocklawahaboy]

James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

[drobertson]

I'm quite sure this customer of yours will be in the mind of many now, and it reminds me of a quote I heard while traveling this past week," it's not the quantity of time spent with our loved ones, but the quality,"  It seems the time they spend building this table will forge a memory that will last a life time, and the simple table, a foundation of love, that can only grow an appreciation of needs being met.

[customsawyer]

Great story.

[Grizzly]

Kind of makes you look around at what you've been blessed with with a different set of eyes, doesn't it?

I'm prone to grumbling and it's reading experiences like this and being reminded that I appreciate. I've got it so good I don't see it for what it is.

[samandothers]

Agree Grizzly

We are blessed.  Sometimes I am grumbling over stuff that does not make a big difference and in 5 years will not matter. 
Happy Easter all!

[GDinMaine]

I would have insisted she take a few more boards, if she could use them.  I know first hand what it is like having to worry about a few $.

[Ohio_Bill]

Thanks for taking the time to share this story. She sounds like a wonderful  mom . By example her son is learning some great life skills.

[redbeard]

Thanks Yellow hammer! great story!

[gfadvm]

If I'd overheard that comment, I probably would have quit for the day and built her a table. The older I get the more compassion I have for people like her. I'm imagining her and that boy in a sad situation.

[dean herring]

Yellowhammer, what do you think about us here on the Forum help this family out. Just a thought.

[thecfarm]

Makes you wonder who that person really is? What will she do to help out others as she is helping her son at a better life.

[YellowHammer]

There are many people in this country that have nothing but are gracious good folks, God bless them. Then there are others on welfare that expect the world to give them a living for doing squat. Nice story Hammer. Frank C.

Yes!
Frank, exactly, she didn't want a handout, she just wanted what she wanted. I honestly believe she would have gotten offended if I had offered to give her the wood, or treated her any different than any of the other customers who were there.  Certainly to me, the board was just a board, I've given away lumber to needy people and organizations before, but that's why she was different. It was very clear she still had her pride and self respect and I wasn't going to risk stepping on that.  As I said before, she wanted what she wanted, and we did what we could, to make sure that's what she got. Although she may have been on hard times, she had a fighter's personality, the type of person to be inspired by.  I certainly was.
As I think about her and her son, I can't help but wonder how I would stand up in the same circumstances.   

YH
 

[Ocklawahaboy]

To me that isn't even an issue of pride.  It's an issue of someone that had a need and limited means, who is willing to be responsible enough to live within those means and make the best of it. 

To me, one of the main things that's missing from American society is good old fashioned dinner conversation.  Sharing a meal together is probably the best thing those two can do for each other, whatever their circumstances are.

[Magicman]

Thanks YH for your Reply #22.  I was needing that to bring the thread into perspective for me.