Some gifts keep on giving

In 1988, through a series of circumstances, I ended up working for some friends of mine.  At the time they owned a company called "Omar's Built-In Vacuum Systems".  I was hired in the late fall and my first job was to man the front desk, answer phones, take orders and learn the ropes.  Later I was brought into the warehouse section and taught how to manufacture the vacuum itself.  That was the part that came into play yesterday.

You see, I considered it a gift, the chance to work for these friends of mine.  I was working construction but as winter approached I could see clearly that my misery index was going to go up in proportion to my income index.  The chance to work inside and also learn a new craft was a gift.

We have an Omar's in our house.  It was also a result of working with the company and we have had this built-in system in every home in which we have lived since the late 1980's.  Just this past month it was clear that the vacuum motor on our system was failing.  I had changed the brushes once in the past and I was pretty sure either the armature or the motor itself was starting to go from the horrendous noise.  So I ordered a new motor and was determined to do it myself.

So yesterday the motor arrived from UPS and I took the power unit down and brought it outside. (It was a beautiful warm and sunny day!)  Once I got the cover off and looked everything over I cut the wires I needed to cut to get the motor free.  I then peeled off the old gasket, placed the new one on and put in the new motor.  OH NO!!  I discovered there were two small electrical connectors that I did not have and would definately need to make things work.  So off to the local hardware store I went telling myself there was little to no chance that these little parts would be there... surprise!  They had them!

I then returned home, applied these little connectors and sealed everything up and plugged it in... the moment of truth.... everything worked!  I was transported back to the shop in 1989 where I first learned to assemble these things.  It was a gift that kept on giving right down to today.

It is nice when those gifts received many years ago return to bless our lives.  It was so nice I vacuumed the house just to enjoy the 'brand-new' vacuum system once again.