OT: how wonderful, I got to change a flat tire tonight!

[cognitivefun]

My son and wife were with me.

It was his idea. I spotted the flat and called the Otter Club. He said, "let's change it ourselves." I found myself doing just that, with his help.

We had my SureFire L4 and my wife's Nuwai Q-III flashlights (she always forgets she has this one but remembered it, fortunately.) We had a pleasant 30 minutes working together and got the space saver in place and all was well.

It was really a fun night! Sometimes life's little issues turn out great. My son said, he felt real satisfaction at getting this little challenge met, all by ourself. And the Otter Club guy was happy when I called him and told him to turn around...he had probably an hour's drive to get to us.

 

[Roadrunner]

Any positive time parents spend with their kids is wonderful. I've been thinking of my Dad a lot the last week while working on my car. He put a new engine in my first car when it died and taught be a lot about basic car care. I consider myself fortunate to have him. Surely your son does too.

 

[Ad Astra]

Great little light... It's always what you have with you that matters. "I have a perfect gun/light/tool for this situation... at home."

It's easy to have that Nuwaii on you. Tiny 3 watt, mine throws a bright beam, well I don't know how far, but it lights up a fence 70 yds away.

Thanks for making me a flashaholic, Cog.


Ad Astra

 

[Bill Marsh]

My father liked potatoes. My mother didn't. I remember some of the greatest times with dad was sitting in our barn, in the freezing winter. We speared potatoes and put them in a pot belly, wood-burning stove. Those potatoes were the greatest I have ever known! Burnt black outside and the steaming goodness inside. Butter and salt. What a feast!

And dad told me stories of his WWII Navy adventures. Not a lot of action in Rio de Janerio. His destroyer did depth charge a whale accidently (he thought). They believed it was an enemy submarine.

But here in the darkness of the barn, huddled around that stove, I felt closer to him than any other time. He was normally very military, very disciplined. A totally "by-the-book" Navy man.

But there he opened up.

I remember him telling me of his fears. That his ship could be sunk and how hard it would be to find survivors. That he might have died without ever seeing me.

That he feared the Japanese might bomb Savannah Georgia port where I was living with my mother. No one really knew the Japanese strength. Pearl Harbor caught us flat-footed. Our actual armed forces at that time were meager.

But back in the cold light of day, that openess vanished and he began barking orders...... still I remember that stove, and HEY, I still have it! Maybe one day......

 

[cognitivefun]

Wow! Thanks very much, what wonderful posts.

Funny, the enjoyment from those random times, with some adversity thrown in. That's what we remember later, isn't it?

 

[DannyinJapan]

I wish I could share such things with people. My father has always been the opposite. He was never interested in anything I did and I was never too crazy about football and electronic engineering.
A flat tire? That would put him in such a fit or rage and obscenity that a flat tire might end up as a huge fight and possibly violence.
Every car he ever drove he burned out. He never put in any oil, ATF or brake fluid until AFTER there was a problem.
Sharing a hot potato? Not likely. He was always using the kitchen table to do his electronic design work which requires a large flat space and plenty of light.
It also meant that if anyone sat down at the kitchen table and touched the table causing it to wiggle would get barked at severely and usually the evilest of evil eyes.

Maybe thats why I havent wanted to have kids. I dont know. I know that every day I live in Japan, 8,000 mils away from my parents, I get better. There is plenty of stress here for me, but the day in day out rageaholism of my father is gone from my life.

My grandparents all suck too.

Oh well, maybe we can start it all over ourselves.