The Grate Has Seen Better Days
It has been said that “He who dies with the most toys, wins.” It has also been said that “He who dies with the most toys is still dead.”
Did you ever wonder if all the toys that you have accumulated still work? I thought I had a lot of toys but now have my doubts. My family and I came up to Big Bear for the week before our winter vacation was over. It was a chance to let my wife and son take skiing lessons (while I shooshed down the slopes). I signed them up for lessons, two each at two hours, and then arranged for equipment rentals. I had bought a pair of skis, poles and boots at a garage sale that I thought would work for my wife, Hsien-Ling, but thought it better to rent a set for her first time. We found out the boots didn’t fit anyway but would worry about the skis and poles later. As for me, I was all set. I thought.
When we were trying everything on before going to sign up, (when we found out Hsien-Ling’s boots wouldn’t fit), I broke one of the straps on my boots. That was one out of two. Since all the straps were the same vintage and made out of the same plastic…. Hmmmmm. Ok, I’ll rent boots, no sense buying a set at peak retail to use once every other year. But then the rentals didn’t fit my skis. The shop wouldn’t adjust the bindings because of their age, and new bindings would be about $300. At least I don’t have to rent poles. Maybe I can sell them all at a garage sale. That is more than I could do with the tent that I tried to put up last month and found that the top was rotten.
And Now We Have ChainsSo how many other toys that adorn my garage are of the same quality? As the fable goes: A lump of gold and a gold-painted-rock are of the same value if you only want to look at them. So I think: “He who dies with the most toys, probably never had enough time to use them all.”
