Trina Machacek: Always reaching

I hope I never settle for the items on the nearest shelf. I hope I always want the things I have to reach for. Stretching myself and my dreams like stretching a rubber band as far as I can. Pulling back just before it breaks and stings as it snaps back and causes a welt on my hand. That’s the type of person I’ve been and want to continue to be. I see nothing wrong with wanting to experience as much as I can while I’m here. Without being told I can’t do something. For instance…

My neighbor found two of the freeze-less water faucet hydrants in our yard had frozen over the winter and needed to be replaced. Somehow someone tried to get water out of these hydrants and they are hard to close all the way. If they’re not closed all the way they will not drain and the water will sit in the pipe and freeze and split. All confusing if you don’t know about such things. Anyway two were, for lack of a better word, played with and not closed completely last fall and this spring as my neighbor tried them the water went everywhere and he then informed me they needed to be replaced. I have a sneaking suspicion of who and when and why this happened, but that’s of no consequence. It’s just one of the happy things of being a home owner. Like needing to fix a rain gutter or reseeding the yellow spots in your lawn! Both things on my long spring list. Ugh.

To be honest I can really see this faucet snafu happening. When I was first introduced to the orange handled faucets that can be found on any farm or ranch I thought they were these cute little pumps. That’s what they look like! I was under the impression they needed to be pumped to get water out of them. I walked up to one pulled the handle up and pushed it down like four times. The water would start to come out and then stop, start and stop. When I look back at that now I still laugh. So whomever tried these two faucets in my yard still has no idea how they work. But I will make it my mission to quietly teach those who I suspect…

Back to this reaching thing. Discussing this dilemma with my neighbor, between the two of us it was decided we would need to replace the faucets that are buried in the ground about five feet down, just the top three feet of the hydrants sticking up with bright orange heads announcing their presence. A back hoe was needed and time and effort. I was all ready to jump right in and work and my neighbor says to me, “Just don’t worry. I can handle it. You just go to lunch with your lady friends.” Ah how nice! But! Yes a stretched out “but.” But I don’t run from work. I’m not made that way. So we dug in together. We got cold and muddy and wet and laughed and pretty soon the water was corralled into working faucets again. My point here is I’m not ready to stop working, going, getting out there.

Knowing what you want and going for it is so exhilarating. I want my world to be as big as the whole world, not just bound by a small circle. OK I do think if you have worked a ton of years you deserve to rest, but not so much your stretching muscles get withered. As long as you’re breathing there’s still time to add new stories to your life. Invite new friends over. Go visit old friends.

Of course I realize I will probably never be a writer like Grisham or Patterson. I won’t ever know all the things Buffett knows about making money. However they probably don’t know how to run a shovel tamping dirt in and around a freeze-less water hydrant when you’re replacing one. Or what it’s like to get in a car by yourself and drive to a new adventure with abandon and meet new friends everywhere. Always reaching for that next sunset or sunrise. Uh depending on which direction you’re traveling.

Trina lives in Eureka, Nevada. Follow her on Facebook, share with her at itybytrina@yahoo.com Really!