Unforgettable answers

    Have you ever gotten an answer to a question that just totally 

hit home and stuck in your mind forever?  Here are a few that

over the years I have stuck with me.

   At a very young age I once ask my grandfather who always grew

a massive garden and often sold produce to people in the neighborhood

why he always planted his tomatoes in the same place every year.  He 

wiped his brow and told me that he always planted his garden 

alphabetically.  That way the weeds were all in the back row.. Unless

he planted zucchini.  And grandma didn't like zucchini anyway.   After 

that I often questioned some of grandpaps theories.

     Years later I was helping my dad work on a car that wouldn't start.

We narrowed it down to a bad starter solenoid .  A very inexpensive part

to replace.  But instead my dad decided we should drill out the rivets and

take it apart and try to repair it.  Something I'm sure no man had ever

tried to do before on a eight dollar part.   Silly me ask "Do you think you

can fix it ?"  To which he answered.."I'll either fix it ,, of fix it so nobody 

will ever fix it "   If I remember we went to the parts store an hour later.

     A younger me was very shy. (I know right ?)   I would 

never think of making any kind of flirtatious comments to 

young ladies that I didn't know. One day when I was 

nervously shopping for something for a friend I walked into 

a shop in Wheeling and was greeted by a very attractive 

sales lady maybe six years my senior.  Immediately I got 

nervous.  I told her I was looking for pinstriped slacks for 

a friend.   As we walked she ask me .. what size? Now I was lost. 

I had no idea.  I meant to say  average size but instead I 

blurted out "the perfect size"   She stopped walking and 

looked at me and said " They're is no 'perfect size'    

Girls come in all sizes.   If you found a perfect one, 

that's rare.

Even though I misspoke  I still think about that conversation.  I was so 

embarrassed to this day I can't remember if I bought anything or not.  She 

could have probably sold me the store.   

     I once had a superintendent at work  who was probably 

one of the best 'repair' mechanics I've ever met.  He sent me 

out on a major job once and after I went out and scoped it out 

I came back and told him what parts would be needed to do 

the repair.   He told me to go to the spare parts room and try 

and find something to fix it with.  I had worked on this job long 

enough to know we had no parts for this particular machine 

but I looked anyway.  Later I went to him and said  "If you want 

it fixed this is what I need !"   Without even looking up he 

muttered  "It's not a matter of what you need... It's a matter of   

what you have"  Now go fix it !     

 From that day on I learned to cobble and patch things together 

with whatever was at hand.  Thus started my MacGyver career.