Life In The Trenches

“Life is not a continuum of pleasant choices, but of inevitable problems that call for strength, determination, and hard work.”
- Indian Proverb

A couple of days off from writing due to a water line break at my home. It is interesting that life will some times interrupt your enjoyment. Of course I could bore you with the details but I will try to pass along something that you can learn from.

Late afternoon on Friday the inevitable 'wet' spot in the ground surfaced. One will try to deny the existence of it, hoping that the problem will go away. Many of us have the tendency to face life this way. Ignore it, close your eyes and just maybe it doesn't exist. No such luck this time, out came the shovel to start digging dirt and mud.

Part of me felt while digging that I was back on the farm. Cleaning out hog pens shoveling that which fills most hog pens. A wonderful way to spend an evening but the birght spot being that I found the water line right away. Found the leak, a mad dash to the hardware store and the leak was fixed...for fifteen minutes...another leak sprung.

Murphys Law of course dictated the moment, for where one leak appears there will always be one more. This water pipe was made of plastic and nearly twenty years old, best to replace the entire length down to the water meter. Only 75 feet from house to meter, between two trees and through hard Georgia clay.

The digging would begin the next day with two of my sons working hard on a three inch wide trench. The good news is we only need to dig down about one and a half feet, a small positive in the miserable heat and humidity. I was proud of how they worked and it is the first time I have ever seen someone bend a Pickaxe. But how were we ever going to get through this. The area of tree roots seemed almost unbearable.

“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” - Newt Gingrich

So why not call in a plumber or go rent a trenching machine? Well, I am my father's son and you can save money by putting in some hard work, the money saved is worth much more. It took a lot of thought and self encouragement to continue and complete the trench. A new water pipe, no worries of another leak due to an old pipe. Time with two of my sons watching their hard efforts and physically, it was good exercise for me.

The job finished and the yard landscaped, the feeling of accomplishment was good. The same can be said of anything you do in life. When faced with an obstacle that seems too great to overcome, keep pushing through. You will find it very rewarding on the other side.

“Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.”
- Horace (Ancient Roman Poet. 65 BC-8 BC)