Lift Up Your Hearts!

9:10 a.m. At 7:00 we learned that Home Depot had plywood, so we rushed out. This is definitely a two-person job. I arrived first, and got in line. I had the wrong kind of cart for carrying plywood sheets, but they were out of the right kind. Porter followed later, after having taken the seats out of our Venture and equipped himself with rope and gloves. Home Depot was out of Tapcons (special screws to use with concrete block), but I learned from someone in line that Lowes had them. (Both had been out of plywood clips, which we would have preferred, for a long time.) So Porter went to Lowes and obtained Tapcons while I continued to wait in line (with the wrong cart). When he returned, he stood in a different line for the proper cart. The procedure is this: you follow a person who has just purchased his plywood out to his car, and help him load, after which his cart is yours. A very nice win-win situation. We coordinated all of this with cell phones, by the way, as did most of the people there. By the time Porter had secured a cart, we had only about another 20 minutes to wait, during which he browsed the store for anything else we might need. We had wanted 12 sheets, but will make do with the 10 we were allowed. As per the drill, a nice man followed us to our car, helped us load, and gratefully took our cart. By the way, a 4 x 8 piece of plywood fits exactly, flat, in the back of the Venture.

Although we waited in line nearly two hours, it was not unpleasant, except in thinking of all we could be doing at home. Everyone was friendly, talkative, and eager to help one another out. We made a point, as we left, of thanking the Home Depot employees for working today, when I’m sure they would much rather be working at their own homes.