Our side gate has seen better days.

A while back, when we had a microburst and our trampoline was found crumpled in our front yard, our side gate to the back yard was damaged. It wasn’t anything overly extreme, but it took some time to get it back in usable condition, but we did it.

Another year went by and although the gate worked, the previous storm had left its mark and it was starting to break down. One monsoon/haboob came later and our frame was broken and completely not functional. This was well past my pay grade and I contacted a company to come out and fix it. They came out to give a bid and then never showed up. We contacted another welder and he too didn’t show up. We have backyard remodel plans and we figured we’d address it eventually.

The backyard plans have been slow to come to fruition and we got used to the broken gate hanging on to dear life by a single spring. We kept it in the open position and went about life and frankly forgot about it.

But we have very kind an observant neighbors who are always looking for a reason to serve. This week we were the recipient of that service. At 8pm we found a neighbor on our driveway examining the gate. He had a welder that was going to be in the area and knew he could fix it quickly. The next morning the welder showed up and within 20 minutes he was done. The gate that had been damaged for two years was restored to working condition in no time with the help of our neighbor and someone who knew how to weld it.

After he finished, I wondered why in the world I hadn’t pressed sooner to have it fixed?! Initially, I tried finding someone to fix it, but then I just stopped seeing the broken gate. Why is that? It’s like the pile in my bedroom that drives me crazy, but then after its there long enough, I forget it’s there! I just stop seeing it. The gate had been forgotten – but evidently, not by our neighbors!

Today I’m grateful for neighbors who are bold enough to step in and take action. They didn’t ask if we needed help with the gate (to which I’m sure we would have told them we could take care of it!) instead they could see a need and filled it. Now I’m looking for an opportunity to pass on the gesture. 🙂