A TwentyYear Old Tale

I told you that I would tell you the tale of my serger and the reason that I have such a sentimental attachment to it. For such a tale, you will have to travel back twenty-years with me, to the time when Bill and I were newly married.

When Bill and I were first married, we both had reasonably good jobs. Our plan was for me to work until our babies came along. At that time, I would quit working outside the home and be a stay-at-home mom. When we bought our house, we did not even take my salary into consideration knowing that if babies came, it would no longer be coming in. We thought it was a great plan. But then, within the first year of our marriage, we both lost our jobs. I was able find a new job working for a doctor that I had previously worked for.

However, Bill was unable to find a full-time job. So he took what he could find -- part-time jobs. It was a year before he could find full-time employment for a medical equipment company. It wasn't a great paying job, so he continued to send out resumes. His job for the medical supply company was to deliver and set up liquid oxygen for home patients.

It was during this time that Bill had stopped with me at a fabric store one day (where else?).

As we were walking through the store, we passed a display of sergers. (I had always wanted to have a serger from the first time that I had seen them demonstrated. That had been long before I had met Bill.) In passing, I said (with No hint intended, HONEST) that someday I was going to have one of those sergers.

FAST FORWARD TO CHRISTMAS A YEAR LATER -- Things are very tight financially. Bill hands me a small gift. I unwrap it, and inside is a loose-leaf notebook; it was a book about sergers. I thanked him and told him it was so nice, but inside I was thinking, "Oh, Bill you are so sweet, but it will be a long time until I have a serger, and without a serger, this book is rather useless." I would never have told him that aloud, he looked so pleased with himself. I knew things were really tight for us and besides we had a "little one" on the way. It would be a long, long time before we could ever afford to buy a serger to go with the book.

A little later he gave me another gift. I opened it. Then in utter shock my mouth dropped open as a realized what it was. A serger! "Oh no, he shouldn't have bought this; we can't afford this! How am I going to tell him we'll have to take it back? We don't need another bill payment? Oh, sweet Bill -- he is so good to me."

Bill has always been so supportive of me in my endeavors. He is the one who is always telling me that I have the ability to do things, when I doubt myself. He began telling me how he had spent the year reserching different makes and models of sergers, and talked to ladies who had sergers and asked them which brand that liked before he had bought the serger. He was so excited!

I had to say something before this went too far. Finally, I took a deep breath and said, "Bill, I really love this, but you know we can't afford it at this time." That's when he told me that it was completely paid for. HOW?? Well, remember I said Bill delivered home-oxygen. Most of his clients were older people and Bill has always gotten along especially well with older people because he takes an interest in them. He's never too busy to talk with them. He would often come home from work with baked goods from them, and when they found out he was going to be a "daddy", several of the women crochet or knitted baby sweaters and the like. Also, he was given tips. In the beginning, he tried to refuse them. But they would insist - even get a little perturbed if he tried to disuade them. Eventually, he would just accept the tip and thank those who gave them to him.

Well, he had saved those tips for a little over a year -- ever since the day at the fabric store and my off-handed remark that SOMEDAY I would like to have a serger. He could have used those tips for something he would like to have, INSTEAD he spent them buying my dream.

So you can see, why it was such a heartbreaker to me when I thought it might be broken and not able to be fixed. For me, it has such a special story behind it. Perhaps, you can also see why my husband is the love of my life. He has never changed through the years; he's always putting me and our children first; and he is always encouraging me to pursue my interests.

I do treasure my serger; but even it can't hold a candle to my greatest earthly treasure, MY HUSBAND. I am ever aware of how blessed I am to be his wife.

Y Blessings,

Nanci