Helping Hands

Years ago, Mom and Lyn lived in the house where Mom grew up.  It was on a half acre not far from the Rio Grande in a part of town called the South Valley.  The property had been purchased by my grandparents in 1947.  The house had several additions over the years that my grandfather, a cabinet maker, had made.  It was a bit of a hodge-podge of a property, but it was a center for our family for nearly 60 years.

At some point, the house had septic tanks before it was hooked up to city sewage.  When septic tanks are no longer used, they are usually filled with sand after they are emptied.  If you don't, then when the tank itself rots away, you risk breaking through the thin layer of ground that covers the tank or having the ground collapse into the void that was the tank.  When the septic tanks on property were no longer used, we all assumed that Grandpa had them properly filled in.  It wasn't until years after his death that we found out he had not done this.

Mom noticed that the flagstone patio was having a problem and quickly determined that the septic tank had rotted away and the ground above was collapsing.  She ordered aggregate and my brother came over to fill the void.  Lyn, of course, jumped right in to help.

They got the hole filled and the flagstone patio put back to order.

Lyn's willingness to help comes out no matter who is around.  There was the time that one of our uncles came over with a riding lawn mower and she asked to mow the lawn.  Lyn had never ridden a mower before and, to the best of my recollection, never operated a regular mower either.  However, our uncle told her to hop up.  He got her started and walked beside her talking her through the process.  In this manner, they mowed the entire yard.

Lyn loves to help in any way she can.  She likes to see people smile and thank her for her efforts.  She is genuinely generous with her assistance.  She will quickly identify a task she can help with and offer up her services.  Sometimes, she's vocal about firmly stating "I can do that!"  If she's around, you have to be prepared and ready for the offer of her helping hands.  Lyn has never been afraid of getting into a task and doing what she can to make it go faster.