Our Maytag washer was making a strange noise last night as it washed a load of clothes. It was consistent, and irritating. Barb and I – paragons of mechanical ignorance – stood there, concern written all over our faces.
“I wonder if a belt is going bad.” Barb suggested.
“No, I don’t think so,” I responded, in all of my wisdom. “It was making the noise when the drum wasn’t spinning.”
And the sound kept going. It was kind of like the chirp of a belt slipping. But it was also like a sound I heard when I would fill up a water pistol as a kid – a high-pitched chirp like air escaping a small hole. That’s it!
“I think there must be a small hole in the tubing somewhere. That’s the sound of air being pushed out by the water in the line.”
Barb’s brow furrowed as she contemplated the trouble that was going to be, and the cost involved. Depressed, she went to the bedroom.
With a few minutes, the washer sounded it’s “The load is done” beeps. The chirping continued. I began to transfer the wet clothes into the dryer. The chirping continued – until I moved a handful of wet clothes to the dryer.
It stopped. Well, as Alice said, “Curiouser and curiouser.”
I looked into the washer. The cause of the chirping? A small stuffed bunny that makes a tweeting noise when the sensors on the bunny’s feet are touched. I couldn’t help it. I started laughing loudly. Barb thought I had finally snapped. She may be right.
So, rather than the expensive repair that immediately brought us to despair – we had a toddler’s Easter gift completing an electrical circuit against a wet towel.
How often do we do that in life? Something comes up, an event occurs, a question is raised, and our life is thrown off kilter. We imagine the worst. We fear the devastating consequences. We run scenarios through our mind of the awful turn our life has taken.
Then we realize that what we thought was devastating was really just a toy accidentally making a noise.
I hope you’re smarter than I was with the bunny. I hope you don’t look at a situation and automatically think the worst. Or, to switch to a different image – I hope you don’t make mountains out of molehills.
“I wonder if a belt is going bad.” Barb suggested.
“No, I don’t think so,” I responded, in all of my wisdom. “It was making the noise when the drum wasn’t spinning.”
And the sound kept going. It was kind of like the chirp of a belt slipping. But it was also like a sound I heard when I would fill up a water pistol as a kid – a high-pitched chirp like air escaping a small hole. That’s it!
“I think there must be a small hole in the tubing somewhere. That’s the sound of air being pushed out by the water in the line.”
Barb’s brow furrowed as she contemplated the trouble that was going to be, and the cost involved. Depressed, she went to the bedroom.
With a few minutes, the washer sounded it’s “The load is done” beeps. The chirping continued. I began to transfer the wet clothes into the dryer. The chirping continued – until I moved a handful of wet clothes to the dryer.
It stopped. Well, as Alice said, “Curiouser and curiouser.”
I looked into the washer. The cause of the chirping? A small stuffed bunny that makes a tweeting noise when the sensors on the bunny’s feet are touched. I couldn’t help it. I started laughing loudly. Barb thought I had finally snapped. She may be right.
So, rather than the expensive repair that immediately brought us to despair – we had a toddler’s Easter gift completing an electrical circuit against a wet towel.
How often do we do that in life? Something comes up, an event occurs, a question is raised, and our life is thrown off kilter. We imagine the worst. We fear the devastating consequences. We run scenarios through our mind of the awful turn our life has taken.
Then we realize that what we thought was devastating was really just a toy accidentally making a noise.
I hope you’re smarter than I was with the bunny. I hope you don’t look at a situation and automatically think the worst. Or, to switch to a different image – I hope you don’t make mountains out of molehills.