Lucky Disasters
Twice in the last several months, my family and I experienced a lucky disaster – an unanticipated mishap that happened in the luckiest way possible.
The first happened late last year between Christmas and New Year’s. Late on the night of December 28th, during an ice storm, a tree fell in our swimming pool. A very big tree. Since it happened after dark, no one knew what had happened when Xander heard a very loud crack and crash. It wasn’t until the next morning when he looked out of his bedroom window and he suddenly had an unobstructed view of the field behind our pool.
Can you imagine how much damage a tree could do falling into our pool? Trees are heavy. The branches scraping into the sides of the pool could have shredded the liner. It might have smashed pipes and tubes as well. But this was a lucky disaster. The side of the tree that fell into the pool was bare of branches, and the branches that went out the the sides spanned wide enough to reach the deck on either side of the pool, holding the trunk out of
the water.
Xander and I went out to assess the situation. Melanie went to the store to buy a chain saw, since years ago I had loaned mine to a friend. For the next four days, Xander and Emerson and I worked to cut up the tree and pull pieces of wood out of the pool. Some of the pieces were huge and it required the three of us to pull them out of the pool after wrapping them with rope. The boys enjoyed the work and the puzzle and despite a fun-filled Christmas calendar, this was the funnest event of all.
When spring came, I opened the pool and got all the bits of wood, sawdust and dirt out. The pool looks great, and the liner has not a scratch. We laugh about how much money we would have spent if we had hired a professional to fell the tree … .they would have gone to great efforts to ensure that no part of the tree ended up in the pool. What a lucky disaster!
In a time of crisis, your team matters.
The second lucky disaster happened when Melanie and I took Fern out on her maiden voyage. Fern is our forty-two-year-old new-to-us Westfalia Vanagon. We’re planning to spend the coming months traveling around in Fern. How far will we get? Stay tuned to find out.
Last Friday, we drove for two hours to get about an hour from home. We were headed to Unicamp of Ontario, a Unitarian Universalist camp and retreat where we go to rejuvenate. Halfway there, we started hearing a loud CLONK with each rotation of the wheels. Melanie found a mechanic two kilometers away, and we clonked to the mechanic. He made sure all of the wheels were on tight, and looked under Fern with his flashlight. He couldn’t see anything wrong. Melanie said “Can we come back if it gets worse?” He said “Yes, but we close at 4.” It was 3. Fern didn’t need the full hour to reveal what ailed her. As I tried to turn left onto the highway, I hit the gas hard to cross in front of an 18-wheeler. Fern said “BLAM!” and I no longer had control of anything. We made it to the shoulder – lucky! – right across the road from the mechanic – also lucky! They pulled Fern back in with a chain and a pick up truck.
It only took our son Emerson an hour to get to us. Before we had departed the mechanic’s lot, they had located a new axle, and it was on its way. While we waited we opened the very nice bottle of wine we had been planning to drink over the weekend and laughed and delighted in our luck. I told Melanie “Today is one of those days that reminds me why I decided to do life with you.”
When unexpected mishaps find you, approach them with curiosity and gather your team. Take the opportunity to create meaning from the mess.
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