Refrigerators, Wisdom and Bright Sides...

George & the Fridge

Ten years ago my husband, Michael, bought a stainless steel refrigerator. He graciously gave his first wife everything when she left, so he had to acquire all new appliances and this was his first purchase. This fridge had all the bells and whistles, it was a side-by-side with ice-maker and water dispenser in the door. But what caught Michael's eye was the stainless steel! The Fridge was mesmerizing in all its shiny beauty.  I don't know why but I have found that stainless steel appliances are like catnip to men. Needless to say, my husband was smitten with this refrigerator and the Fridge became a part of our lives.

Sadly our family's love affair with the Fridge did not last long. The first sign that our relationship had been rushed and not well thought out was the first night we had pizza.  Michael tried to put a medium sized pizza box in the Fridge. I mean part of the reason for buying pizza for dinner is the ease of it. Order Pizza. Get Pizza.  Eat Pizza. 

Put leftovers in the fridge for tomorrow's breakfast or lunch. It is about as simple as dinner gets.  Alas, the Fridge didn't care about ease. On the contrary, the Fridge had decided to make life a little difficult. We had to rearrange the shelves and the weird movable shelf/hanging buckets on the door (do these things have a name?) all to make the thing fit and if that wasn't enough we had to tilt the pizza box sideways to get it past the weird door buckets and all that was contained in them. This event seriously strained our relationship. Easy pizza dinner became more complicated after this incident as did the love we once shared with the Fridge.

We had minor issues every now and then. For example, the Fridge was a little jealous of my relationship with my children and refused to allow any magnets to be a part of its wardrobe thus keeping me from showing the world all the beautiful artwork my children brought home from school. Over time we noticed that the Fridge was more or less giving up on keeping a fresh and clean appearance. Fingerprints, hard water stains and rust started to blemish its once shiny exterior and getting it to clean up became more and more difficult. But this was love and we weren't going to let a few little annoying habits get us down, even though we often wondered we had been rash in our judgement when deciding to purchase the Fridge.  

Then one day it happened, the rose colored glasses were completely chucked across the room. It was the morning I came down to find my husband on his knees cleaning the floor. Recently Michael had been trying to figure out which one of our family members was responsible for spilling water on the floor and not cleaning up the mess. Every time he would step in a puddle, we would get to hear his thoughts on the rudeness of not cleaning up after oneself. Which brings me to this particular morning of floor cleaning fun.  Michael had finally figured out who the culprit was...drum roll please, and the winner is...The Fridge! Apparently ice was forming at the bottom of the freezer and then melting every now and then, leaving a puddle of water on the floor. The Fridge had gone from being beloved to nothing more than a misbehaving dog that liked to pee on the floor! Where did we go wrong!

Determined not to let this incident completely destroy our relationship, we trudged on. Unable to figure out why our Fridge was growing icebergs at the bottom of the freezer, we simply decided to have a weekly date.  You know get together, find out what's new, figure out how we can shrink the wedge growing between us or at least to chip out the iceberg and chuck it in the sink! Over the years we figured out how to live together and focus on the good things, like cold food and even colder ice cream. We were in this for the long haul.

Then it happened without warning, a few months ago we came home to beeping and the random whirring of motors starting and stopping and we knew the Fridge's time had come. What a loss! I think this loss hit me the hardest as did the guilt. I felt bad for all the unkind things I had said and the strained relationship we shared. How was I going to move on? I mean refrigerators are not an easy or inexpensive item to replace.  Fear came over me as my head spun with thoughts of where do I go to find another and how much can I afford to spend. Do I need an ice maker? But my mourning and questions of why were short lived when my daughter walked in behind me and said in her very nonchalant and calm way "look on the bright side, now we can get a refrigerator that doesn't pee on the floor."

Picture of George's Homage to Bessy

A few months have passed and we have found "Bessy". We are still enjoying the honeymoon stage, however, this time around we looked at more than just the outer beauty, we took the time to get to know each other and figure out what we truly needed from each other. Bessy's appearance is one of simple beauty, she is basic kitchen appliance white but that is part of her appeal. She loves my children's artwork as much as I do! She keeps track of our appointments and party invites. She feels that pizza dinner's should be stress free and loves even the large pizza boxes. Most of all she is easy to clean and she doesn't pee on the floor!

Just goes to show, if we are wise and learn from the mistakes of our past, our future can be filled with joy and happiness and hopefully no more puddles on the floor.