After a full day of errand running, I finally sat down in my chair yesterday afternoon about 4:30 to watch the latest episode of “Ghost Hunters” (my guilty pleasure) I’d recorded the night before. At a crucial point in the program, when one of the investigators said, “What was that?” , I heard what sounded like an explosion that had not come from the TV. I got up as quickly as the motorized footrest on my recliner would release me to take a look around the house for the source of the bang.
My first thought was garage door spring. I’ve heard from many friends that when the spring goes in your garage door, it makes a loud, explosive bang. But, when I peeked into the garage, I didn’t see any springs or signs of any action out there. From there I made a cautionary sweep of the perimeter, checking the sounds of the air handlers as well as the lp tank outside. I found nothing. Convinced there was nothing to be concerned about, I sat back down and continued watching my program.
When it was over I decided I would run an errand before dinner. I grabbed my keys and purse and on my way out hit the garage door opener button. The engine hummed but the door only went up about six inches before the motor stopped. I hit it again and the door went down. Again and it went up about six inches. Again and it went down – never to rise again. Crap!
Being the independent woman that I am, I Googled opening how to open the door manually so I could get my car out and go about my business. But no matter how hard I tried to release the mechanism, the door was just too heavy for me to lift. There was nothing else to do but surrender to the fact that I couldn’t handle this job alone so I sat back down and waited.
When Dave came home, I told him what had happened and the two of us went out to tackle the door. It took both of us to get it lifted, and not too easily. Then, to insure it wouldn’t crash down on me as I backed the car out, Dave gave it one more little push, which resulted in the top panel of the door sliding off the back end of the track and swinging freely over the roof of my car, missing it by a couple of inches. With adrenaline pumping my heart at a brisk pace, I backed car out of the garage.
It wasn’t very difficult to get the door back on the track and with the slightest touch, it rolled rapidly to the down position, landing with a great crash and popping the top panel from a couple of its hinges upon impact. We were able to pop most of them back but we had undeniably come to the end of our abilities with the door and it was time to call in the professionals.
My friend Carol recommended Overhead Door Company of Charlottesville. They had made repairs to their garage door and was very happy with their service. I checked their webpage and found out they opened at 7:00. So, the this morning, having given them a couple of minutes to get their coffee and settle in, I gave them a call. After I explaining my problem, I was relieved to hear that someone would be able to make a service call sometime after lunch.
Usually I am out on Fridays, knitting with my friends at Peace Lutheran and I wasn’t happy about missing the fellowship and lunch out with them. But, I will be working tomorrow at a craft bazaar and could use the day to do some things around the house while I waited for the repairmen.
While puttering around the house, I usually streaming my latest binge-watch show from my iPad but today I decided not to. I recently read somewhere that silence can actually be therapeutic. I could use some free therapy, so I decided to purposefully attend to quiet activities.
Yesterday, I received some yarn in the mail that I’d ordered for my next project; six hanks of soft, beautiful superfine merino wool in yummy fall colors. But, before I could do anything with it, it needed to be rolled into balls.
Rolling yarn is an excellent quiet activity. It is monotonous, time-consuming, and quiet except for the whirr of the swift as it spins and best of all, requires no brain power.
Not long after I started, my quiet was interrupted by my phone ringing. It was from the repairman, asking if they could come earlier. Sure, I said. I hung up and continued rolling my yarn.
About twenty minutes the truck pulled into my driveway and work began on my garage door. I went back to my yarn and continued my quietness and focus while pounding and drilling began in the garage. I fought my inclination to observe all things mechanical and worked until each of the hanks of wool were in tidy round balls and ready to be worked.
My silent time was finally interrupted by Dave’s coming through the front door for lunch and soon after we heard the familiar and comforting sound of our garage door opener pulling our door up.
I have to say, I enjoyed the silence very much and I am still enjoying it as I write. Of course “silence” to me can only mean lack of television, conversation or music; things I have control over because I can still hear the tires of the trucks in the distance as they make their way up and down US 29 and there is of course the tapping of my fingers on the keyboard. And even though I was interrupted by the occasional phone call or banging in the garage, the relative quiet has been so nice. So nice that I think I will try to do more of this silence therapy. It was like a little vacation from thinking. And I could surely use that!