Sometimes Just Being There Is Enough.

Last week I was on my way home from having a Physio session on my back when my phone rang. It was my last born saying that she was having Car troubles and would I come and help her.

Now My oldest Brother is an A Grade Mechanic by training and with many years of practice, and my other older brother is a pretty handy bush mechanic, but me? Let’s just say, when it comes to Mechanics, I make a pretty good gardener, and that’s all. So I was a little surprised that she was asking me for help in what sounded pretty serious. None the less I was quite chuffed that my daughter still had enough faith in me to ask for my help.

So on the phone, I asked her if she had rung the RACV. Which she hadn’t, so I told her to do that and I would come there after I dropped into home which by then I was only 200 metres from, although I had stopped to answer the phone.

When I finally found out where she was on my street directory I went to her aid. By that time she had rung the RACV and they had a guy on the way. Shortly after he arrived and his first words were less than cheering. “It has the smell of death on it. I could smell it as I backed up”.

With that he gave it a cursory look, asked a few questions and rang for a Tow Truck and left us, waiting for it saying, “It should be here with in the hour. That means it could be 10 minutes or 40.”

Well he was wrong, it was nearly the full hour and by that time it had gotten towards twilight. Not the sort of time one would want one’s daughter stranded on the edge of a busy highway by herself is it? Actually there was a time, while it was still light, where she borrowed my car and went and did a little errand nearby, leaving me by myself waiting for the tow truck. And I can tell you, I wasn’t all that happy standing there by myself either, and very relieved when she came back!

Isn’t company marvelous? In fact that is my point for today. Despite the fact that I had no expertise in her area of trouble and my only constructive advise was to calm her down and tell her to ring the RACV, which I ‘m sure she would have done eventually, just my being there was enough.

Sometimes there really is nothing we can do practically, sometimes there are even times when there is nothing we can say that will help, but just our being there is enough.

What about you? Are there times when you are called upon and think that it is pointless in you participating, as the problem area is well out of your expertise and experiences? Never fear, it may not be your expertise that is needed, just your presence.

Again you may not feel you have any value to contribute to society, but just your being there when needed is not only enough, but far too often, more than anyone else is doing.

So you see, even the least Mechanical in my family, was able to be of practical assistance in a mechanical emergency, just not the way one would normally expect. What has been your experience? Walter