Validation*

A heavy wet snow blanketed our landscape this weekend.  I would guess it was less than 6 inches, but this type of snow is difficult to remove with our small snow blower, so hubby had to get out the big one to tackle the job. 

After he finished clearing our driveway, decks and removing the snow from the roof of the house, he and Libby were out playing in the snow when he brought her back in and said he was going to go help our neighbor clear the end of his driveway.  They only have a small snow blower and William thought he could make quick work of the end of their driveway with our big snow blower as the neighbor was having a hard time with it.

I was surprised when he came back in the door and even before he removed his hat and jacket, he got my attention and thanked me for being me.  I was a little surprised because I wasn't quite sure what he was referring to, but then he explained. 

The neighbors are a very young couple.  I am not sure where he works, but she does daycare in her home.  They have one small daughter, a little older than our Edward.  William mentioned that the neighbor asked if he knew anything about transmissions.  William said he did, but he wasn't experienced enough to make any diagnostics solely based on the sound the car was making.  The neighbor had took it to the local transmission shop and they quoted the repair at about $1600 without labor costs.  He then mentioned that their furnace had gone out the week before and that was an additional $500-$600 bill.  He said he needed to wait for his tax refund money to repair the car's transmission and is really hoping it can last a few more weeks until that money comes in.

William was thanking me (the self proclaimed "nerd") for helping us to get our finances in order so that when these problems arise, we can simply pay for them (at least for the most part!).  We have been through all the problems our neighbor was having and because of our self-control with regards to money, the problems were not "problems" for us this time around.  They were just something to take care of and move on. 

While we are far from perfect and still have a long way to go in our financial journey (we are following Dave Ramsey's Plan), it was so validating to be thanked for our years of hard work getting to where we are now.  And it has taken years!