Thankful

I just finished installing a new garage door opener. The remote receiver on the old one wasn’t working and as a result we could only use the opener by using the wall switch. Not much help when you’re pulling up in the car. I could have replaced the receiver, but odds are that something else would break within a month. This new one is the third unit that I’ve installed since owning our house (20+ years). They’re supposed to last roughly 10 years and we’re right on the mark so far. The instructions always say that it takes two people to get the job done, but I’ve always done it alone.

I often write about changes in my life, but not today. Today I rejoice in something that hasn’t changed in well over 20 years. I first installed a garage door opener a short time after we moved into our house. My wife went to a ladies meeting that night and I stayed home laboring in the garage. Today I got things started in the late afternoon and I was almost finished by the time that she got home from work. Climbing ladders is always a difficulty for me since the accident, but I made it nonetheless. I’m in some pain as I sit here typing, but I’m doing fine and the garage door works like new. The instructions and online video still insist that it’s a two man job, but I did today what I’ve done on my own since my thirties. I know that it shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is to me. Simple things become great big things when you realize that the freak show called a motorcycle accident has yet to win. I’m glad that life has me doing something for the third time in a couple of decades because I can say that I’m still able to do it. There’s no such thing as monotonous activity when you realize that progress and ability far outweigh the burden of repetition. I’m so thankful tonight that I’m able to take part in the mundane things of domestic living. Neither the accident nor my body will defeat me. Maybe tomorrow I’ll live it up and fix a toilet.

\