The text message from the delivery driver read , “We will shurly start when we get there we might be about done when you get there truthfully.”
Lisa and I chuckled at the spelling and the grammar, convinced that we were likely to come upon an East Tennessee hillbilly delivering our new sofa when we pulled up to the cabin. We were half right, as there were two such men lugging the couch onto the porch when we arrived.
Their appearance matched their grammar. One man, who appeared to be in his thirties, could only be described as scrawny. Dressed in jeans, a ball cap and a white t-shirt, he did not look like someone who would carry furniture for a living. He was shorter than I, perhaps about 5 feet 6 inches tall, and could not have weighed more than 120 pounds. Most striking about his appearance was what was not seen, teeth.
His younger companion, in his late teens or early twenties, seemed bigger and stronger than he was. This is not to say he was strapping. About 5 foot 10 and 170 pounds, he was big only in comparison partner.
It was fascinating watching them work together. Communicating in clear, one word responses, “Clear”, “Up”, “Cut”, as a team they easily carried the new sofa up the stairs. Watching them raise the couch over the bannister to negotiate a turn called to mind ants carrying objects several times their size. Seeing their teamwork I asked, “Who’s in charge?”
“Neither of us,” came the synchronized reply, “We’re a team.” I was impressed at the mutual humility of their response, then stunned by what came next.
“That’s my son,” said the smaller man.
His son? I quickly did math in my head. By his appearance, the dad could not have been a day over 35 years old. His son had to be at least 18 (it was a weekday during the school year), which meant that the father would have been around 17 years old at the time his son was born.
My opinions of the man instantly changed. Obviously poor and not well educated, he had achieved something that many wealthy, learned, and older men have not. He had a good relationship with his adult son.
The world (and I) could mock him for his accent and his grammar and we could look down on his station, but in one of the most important areas of life this small man stood above the crowd. He had raised a son who was willing to work hard, and if the “yes sirs” and “yes ma’ams” were any indication, a son who was also polite and respectful.
As they packed up their truck and pulled away I realized that they had left with more than a new sofa. They had left me with a few lessons as well.
Bart