A Helping Hand

Went over to a friend's house this evening to help him with some tile. I didn't get paid and didn't expect to, either. I know, some are thinking: Why doesn't he come to my house and work for free? First of all, if I worked for free for everybody who wanted me to work for free, I'd have to go get a full time job to support my 'work for free' habit. So now you're probably thinking: Yeah, so. Second of all, I don't like work THAT much. I do enjoy the thought of work, and having a job, but once I get there, that sometimes changes. The main reason I went to this friend's house is, he just had surgery on his index finger, related to an accident he had earlier in the year involving several fingers. He's never one to ask for help, so his kids asked for him. Since he's a nice person, and has been a friend of my wife's family for years, I was happy to oblige. I was there for approximately 3 1/2 hours, which an hour of that was setting up my tools and eating supper with them. So roughly two hours of work (the easiest job I've had in some time), turned out nice, and I don't even have to finish it. Their son is going to come grout the tile I laid. They seemed rather happy with the outcome because the praise was constant, almost to the point of me thinking they weren't really sincere. But they were. Of course, being paid for performing your trade and producing something handmade is usually fulfilling. But when you can do something for somebody who has had a rough go of it lately, or for someone who can't afford it, but deserves it, when they express a sincere 'thanks', that's more rewarding than payment. It is surprising how good it feels to give. Chances are, it will come back to reward you someday:)