For Wilshire Baptist Church
While the windstorm of May 28 didn’t do much damage to our house, it took two weeks to repair it. Actually, the repair was made in one hour, but it took two weeks to find someone to do it. When I found that person, we got it done – together.
Our damage was minor: one piece of siding pulled loose and hanging from a second-story wall. The siding is made of fiber cement, which is heavy and prone to chip if not handled properly. It requires some expertise I don’t have, so I contacted two handymen recommended by two good friends. But with continued rain and no doubt a backlog of repair projects, the men were slow getting back to me. When one, Sidney, finally came and looked at the project while I was away, he texted me: “It’s a quick fix but getting to it may be a safety issue for me, so no guarantees.”
I understood his concern because I had been up on the roof myself to look at it. It’s easy getting up on the first-floor roof, but there are steep and awkward angles and then some stretching to reach the board that needs repair. My response was: “If it is safer and easier as a two-man job and I can be your second man to help hold and steady things, then I’ll do that.” Sidney came Saturday morning and that’s the way it worked out.
I needed his expertise on how to re-attach concrete siding, and he needed me to steady ladders, pass tools back and forth, hold screws and catch things if they fell. He even used some of my tools: my drill with a small bit to make pilot holes and his drill to push the screws in; my extension ladder to get from the ground to the first level, and his ladder to reach the damaged siding. Working together, and with a lot of stretching and sweating, we got it done.
It was all business and focus while on the roof, but we talked as we prepared and later as Sidney drank water and I wrote a check. I learned he’s from New Orleans and was a long-haul trucker before becoming a contract installer for a big-box home improvement chain and now a handyman. I told him about my mother’s parents who lived in Orange just across the Sabine River from Louisiana, which gave me some firsthand knowledge of Cajun and creole cooking.
When we finished the work and were safely on the ground, I looked back up at the second-story wall and said, “It looks great and nobody got hurt,” to which he replied, “I was praying for that.” I told him I was too, and I wasn’t just talking. After shoulder surgery two years ago and cancer treatment last year, I didn’t want the sad irony of surviving those trials only to fall off the roof. While I steadied the ladder as Sidney leaned sideways to screw down the board, I knew that if the ladder slipped or if he fell off, he would have landed on me and we both might have tumbled to the ground.
But none of that happened, and I’m grateful for our safety, Sidney’s expertise, our new acquaintance, and the opportunity to work together. Often when we work together on something, the outcome can be better and longer lasting than if we work alone. In this case, without a little “apprentice” help from me, Sidney might not have been able to be as thorough and exact. When he first texted me, he said “no guarantees.” But looking up at the results afterward, I said with all honesty, “If we get another storm like that, the piece of siding we just repaired will probably be the only one still there.”
Working together is often more enjoyable too. Seeing what Sidney did, I might be able to handle a repair like that myself next time. But then I might enjoy having someone like Sidney on the job with me.