A Very Good Friday

April 17th, 1992, was a very good day.

Because she said yes.

--

In truth, we had known for some time that we would be getting married, We are both hopeless romantics, but also practical. And logical. Which is one of the qualities I had been looking for. That, and earnestness. Devotion. A heart for God.

I wanted to make it a special day for her. It was actually weeks in the planning: finding a ring, writing and recording songs, figuring out the right time and place to ask The Question.

It was a lot of fun.

She's always been a lot of fun.

She's also extremely smart, and talented, and witty, and creative. But the most important quality she has, is the one that relates to a bit of advice I received a long, long time ago.

"When choosing your partner for life, always choose the one that will bring you closer to God."

And she is all that.

There's nothing better in this world than having someone to work beside on the things that really matter, the things that transcend the day-to-day earthly trivialities, the things with eternal impact. For more than twenty-five years, we've worked together on spiritual things.

And that has been the biggest blessing of all.

Why else would I ask her on Good Friday to spend the rest of her life with me?

--

Twenty-five years on, our Good Friday is a little less romantic and a lot more on the practical-accomplishment side.

She had to work; I had the day off.

First order of business on my day "off" was to fix my car.

My daily commuting car, Serenity II (the 2nd green one), has been making odd noises which sounded suspiciously like bad bearings, so it was time to check 'em out.

So, on my glorious day off, I was planning on popping the car up on jacks and pulling the wheels off and taking a good look at the brakes and spinning the hubs to see if any of the bearings were noisy.

But first -- there's all this drywall stacked against one side of the garage which I need to put up in order to have enough room to work in there. So I started working on measuring and installing drywall.

But first -- I really need to wire up another outlet on that wall before I put the drywall up. And all my electric boxes were put up in the loft above the third bay. So I need to find the box they were put in, and find the leftover wire.

But first -- all the boxes that used to be in the basement before we started finishing it were put up in the loft, and I can't even get to the box I need (nor can I remember exactly where it is) so I need to pull down a bunch of boxes from the loft and rearrange things so I can get to the back where the electric boxes are.

But first -- I have an appointment at the allergy clinic at 11:30 so have to leave at 11:00 to get there on time. And then stop at the grocery store for a few items on the way home.

Traffic on the Belt Line was especially heavy today, which meant that I didn't get home until after one o'clock. Good grief! It's already afternoon and I haven't gotten hardly anything done!

So I bagged the drywall plan and just went straight for the car repair, because I was running out of time.

I pulled the car into the work area and started gathering my tools. Pulled the hatch open to grab the jack and -- wait a minute, there's water underneath the spare tire.  Huh? No sign of how it got in; all the surrounding areas are bone dry. But the spare tire is sitting in a little lake of water. I pull it out and remove the drain plugs to let the water out, then sop it up with shop towels. Weird. Luckly, the rim of the spare is not all rusted out, like what happened to the Pontiac a few years back.

Rescued from Drowning in the Lake!

Onward. Pulled the right front tire off, checked the brakes and rotor and bearing. They're good.

Pulled the right rear tire off, checked the brakes and rotor and bearing. Hmm. Spun the hub and it has a bit of a grab to it, like the bearing is rough. But it could be the other side. 

Right Rear Hub with Parking Brake Removed

So I jack up the other side and pull the tire and check the brake and rotor and bearing. Feels OK.

Left Rear Hub with Parking Brake Removed

But.

The parking brake is disintegrated. There is no pad left on the shoe. In fact, there is only a fragment of the pad inside the housing, and it's free-floating -- which could explain why I was feeling / hearing the grinding noise. Last year, one of the front pads split in half and then jammed up the wheel.  Could be happening in this case, too.

Went inside and ordered new parking brake shoes and spring kit from NAPA on-line (reserved the parts to be picked up tomorrow). Guess I know what I'll be doing tomorrow!

Rusted-Out Parking Brake Set