Life's a bench

A broken down weed trimmer prompted a recent trip to the local home improvement store. The kids were along with me while their mother was out with her sister doing some shopping. We were there for one purpose and one purpose only, to purchase a length of fuel line. We entered the store on the far end where the building contractors pick up lumber. A quick dodging of a hastily pushed cart loaded down with 2x4’s was necessary as we rounded the front register. We made our way through the store quickly. My oldest daughter was complaining about being dragged through the store. My youngest daughter was holding tightly to my left hand trying her best to keep up the pace. My son was busy scanning the store for something that would make a good pretend weapon of some kind. He usually finds some plumbing parts that are in the shape of a gun and uses them as imaginary pistols.

We finally reached the aisle where the weed eater parts are and I spotted a roll of fuel line. It was only $4.99, not too bad I thought to myself. We then exited the aisle and walked toward the bird feeders and houses. I glanced at all of the nice lawn furniture and gas grills that were displayed. My eyes fell upon a small bench. It had wrought iron ends and dark stained wood slats. It looked so inviting just sitting there among all of the larger furniture. I walked over to it and sat down. It felt comfortable and sturdy. I couldn’t help but smile as the tension began leaving out of my legs and feet. My two daughters also sat down on the bench beside me. “Daddy, this is a nice bench,” one of them said. “Yeah, I really like it,” I replied. We didn’t come to buy a bench, just a cheap roll of fuel line. I looked for the price tag. “Hmm, only $59.00,” I thought to myself. But, we didn’t come to buy a bench and we really didn’t have extra money to just make an impulsive buying decision. Reluctantly I walked away, glancing back at it a couple of times on my way out. I really wanted that bench.

A couple of days went by and that bench stayed on my mind. I didn’t really “need” a bench and we had just forked out over $150.00 on an electronic part for our oven. I just needed to forget about the stupid bench. But still, my mind stayed occupied with it. Then today I was walking through the living room and it struck me. “Hey, we got a $10.00 off card from Lowe’s the other day!” I looked at my wife and said, “I sure would like to have that bench I told you about the other day, and we’ve got a $10.00 off card.” Much to my surprise she said, “well, let’s go get it.” It didn’t take any persuading for me to agree to this. We hopped in the Pathfinder and headed out to Lowe’s. I felt like a little kid in a candy store. Why on earth was I so excited about a bench?

We brought the bench home and I quickly started assembling it. Two wrought iron end pieces, 12 slats, 24 bolts with nuts, 12 screws, and 1 support brace later and I was in business. “Oh, it’s nice,” my wife said. “Yep, and it’s sturdy too,” I bragged. We had the perfect spot for it, on the front walk beneath the large living room picture window. I sat down on the bench. It felt as good as it did in the store. My wife sat down beside me. “Ooh, I like this, it’s comfortable,” she said. I smiled and leaned back with my feet outstretched in front of me. I gazed across our front yard toward the cow pasture across from us. There were a couple of cows munching on grass and looking in our direction with lustful looks. I’ll bet they wanted to try the bench out for themselves.

I fully intend to get many years of use out of my new bench. As I am sitting here writing this I can’t help but wonder what will become of it after I’m gone. Will my kids one day be dividing up my stuff and asking each other if they want it? Will they remember the first time we saw it at the store and how good it felt to take a load off of our tired feet? Will it still be as sturdy then as it is now or will it just be an old rundown eyesore that my kids will have to haul away to the dump? Hopefully they will look at it and have fond memories of their old dad. You know, life is like a bench. You start out all brand new and shiny. You weather the storms of life and sometimes you get sat on. You bring joy and comfort to some and cold and hardness to others. But, eventually you will wear down and be put out of commission. Yep, life’s a bench, so let’s try to enjoy it while we can.