I mentioned on Facebook earlier this week that my neighbor saved us $600 this weekend. I’d planned a different post for the Peace, Hope, Love, and Kindness Linky, but Jessica suggested this story and I can’t argue!
(I don’t have time to post today, but I can’t grade papers in the dark and I’m waiting for my daughter to fall asleep!)
Saturday morning I presented at a conference for pre-service teachers. In the middle of the first of three presentations I was doing I looked down at my phone. I saw ten text messages from my husband. I scanned the screen and the words “two inches of water” jumped out at me.
It was the water heater. We live in a two bedroom townhouse. We have no garage or attic. The closet under the stairs is our only real storage. It hold everything. Including the water heater.
My husband got everything out and managed to turn off the water and dry most of the water. When I got home we continued to try to clean up and started pricing water heaters.
We spent almost 24 hours waiting for a call back from one of the big home improvement stores. They wanted $1,000 to replace the water heater and said it would be Monday or Tuesday before they could have someone come for installation. We were so frustrated. Our AC needs to be replaced. We are still waiting for the hospital bills to come from my son’s 8-day pneumonia stay. It was a very expensive month.
The Irishman was on his way to the dump with some of the things ruined in the closet when our next door neighbor stopped him. We talk to the guy occasionally, but we weren’t even 100% sure of his name. He heard how much we were quoted for the water heater and he was appalled.
He said he and his buddy could do it for us in a couple of hours. They even drove my husband to the store to buy it because our car was too small to fit it. We learned his name and that he is an assistant principal at a local elementary school. His buddy is a high school teacher.
They had the whole thing done (including a second trip to the store to replace a part) and swapped out the outlet and all the lines in about two and a half hours.
The total cost? $400.
The man saved us $600 and two days of cold showers. I was embarrassed on Tuesday evening when he stopped by to check to see if it was working okay. We have bought a couple of nice bottles of a nice manly liquor and gift cards that we will deliver this weekend as a thank you.
After a rough week, it was a wonderful act of kindness that means a lot!
Be sure to check out the other stories of Peace, Hope, Love, and Kindness!
