In this world you will have trouble

In this world you will have trouble.

Vacation time while teaching during the summers of 78 and 79 my Grandpa nursed me through the construction of the house we still live in. We framed it and completed the outside the first summer, over the winter we wired, insulated, and nailed up all the rock lath for plaster. The second summer was spent building the kitchen and trimming out all the windows. Every job was a big job which seemed to take forever. So many times I needed to do and redo work; it was discouraging to this guy who likes everything to be done in a flash. But Grandpa, 78 at the time, would always say, "without a little trouble you don’t have anything".

At 56 I still hear my Grandfather voice saying the same thing. It seems I always have the most trouble at the times in my life when I stretch myself to new responsibilities. As a beginning teacher in 1975, teaching everyday was trouble enough but then this rookie teacher was given the job of monitoring the detention hall. After the senior trip I had to keep 10 senior guys in line for 10 weeks after school. That was trouble.

My first year in the photography business in 1980 I had just started my run on seniors when my flash system which never had given trouble when on the blink. Numerous seniors needed to be reschedule until I could get another system up and running. When I did get another system up and running the light ratios were not right and I had to redo about 20 seniors till I finally got a system which worked. That was trouble.

When I first started the lab in 1983 the chemistry replenishment system was not working as it should. The blacks just were not black enough and I could not understand why. After several months of struggle, adjusting pumps, changing filters on the used printer we purchased we got our prints to look respectable. That was trouble.

In 1990 we were in the midst of adding an addition to our home for studio space I felt the pressure of being overextended as a business. It took a year to complete and costs went beyond what I had anticipated by a considerable amount. That fall I got a letter from an attorney suing us for $10,000 for have 4 4x5 proofs on display in the hallway of our camera room of a person I had photographed. My crime was that I did not permission from his client neither did I compensate her for this privilege. I was devastated. I had no extra money to settle this and I never spoke with anyone so difficult as this attorney. I had no choice but to call an attorney. As it turned out it was turned over to our insurance company for business liability who gave him $500 and he took it. For several months it was all I could think about. That was trouble.

In 1995 we took on the responsibility of renting 16 townhouses in Mt. Joy. This is a job where one tends to expect trouble. Surprisingly the first year we really had no calls at all. I couldn't believe it. Since that time we have had the normal maintenance one expects with such an investment but outside of the year 2004-5 when I had to deal with a horrible domestic violence situation and next door a drug trafficker this had been the easiest of jobs. I like my people and I think they like me.

When I was building the barn of my dreams in 1998 I was up on a ladder in the corner of the building. The ladder was not set squarely on the ground and not properly supported by both legs of the ladder at the top. In less time then a split second the ladder twisted and I was on the ground catching my breath and feeling pain in my back. Laying there on my back I wondered how serious my injury was. Rhoda took me in for X-rays which showed a hairline fracture on a vertebrae. They gave me a brace and told me to be careful. It was a month before I started my run on seniors for the summer. This was year I bought a battery powered golf cart to carry my customers around the lot to take photos. It eliminated a lot of steps and took the weight off my back. Today my back is fine, thank the Lord, but for that year I was constantly conscious of weak back. That was trouble.

In 2001 in an effort to be supportive of a friend who taught me how to print my first color photo we purchased the Filmmet color lab in Greenfield Industrial Park the day it was scheduled to close. In the Imaging industry film was rapidly being replaced by digital capture which left the film based equipment obsolete. I saw it a place I could get my feet wet in digital production and also give me a place to develop the film I used in my own business. Little did I know how ill prepared I was to take on an additional company. In the midst of building cabinets, buying equipment, getting work out, the black and white film processor caught an electrical fire and immediately was irreparable. As it turned out again insurance money replaced the processor but it took months to get the new processor here from Italy. While the company is not particularly prosperous it continues to hold its own and the same persons whose jobs were saved in 2001 still work there today. However, had I known the emotional roller coaster and all the trouble this investment carried with it I know I would not have done what I did. That was trouble.

Is trouble to be expected? My experience is not unique. The year my father expanded his barn from 12 milking stalls to 42 stalls in 1960 we got hit with an infestation of mastitis in a lot the cows we just had purchased. I felt sadness for my Dad as he stripped one cow after another treating them and dumping the milk in the gutter. In 1996 I helped our pastor build his house. He is a strong and health minded person. In the midst of building his house he developed a herniated disk. Working just a little became a struggle. He called his house a house of pain. But struggle he did and his house became a nice home.

So I ask myself why do I put myself in these predicaments. Why don't I just enjoy what is. This past year we needed a house for a refugee family our church is sponsoring so we purchased a nice little house in Lancaster. Two weeks ago we had lots of wind and then lots of rain. Rhoda got a call from Hsar Hel, the mother of the family at 7:30, “I need Jonathan”! Then spelled L E A K! I went in and here the water was leaking through the ceiling at 4 spots. I should have gone home and got a ladder but I figured I would get up on the roof after the rain had stopped so we just spread buckets around. I thought I must have an old roof that needed to be replaced. The next day when I returned I never expected to see what I saw. Here the wind had picked up a 12 by 15 foot section of the rubber roof compete with the fiberboard it was glued to, lifted it up and folded it back over the roof. I’m surprised our water leaks were not worse. This is trouble. Once again I hear Grandpa saying, “Yes it’s trouble, but without a little trouble you won’t have anything.”