During the last snow/ice storm you could see downed trees, almost anywhere you went. My parents had a branch come down and smash through their roof, into their living room. They also had a tree come down in their back yard. Their insurance company sent a company out to remove the branch and patch the roof. I went over today to help my dad try to clean up the damage in the back yard.

My dad has every tool ever made including a Craftsman chainsaw. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get it started at all last year. So we started the day with a pole saw and a hand saw. Yep, for a 40 foot mulberry tree. Well, as we began the arduous task, Rigoberto “Ricky” my dads neighbor from down below offered us the use of his chainsaw. My dad is old school, and didn’t want to borrow something that could break and have to be replaced. But me? I’m from the school that says “hell yeah brother!” I’m pretty sure it was my pop who used to say “never look a gift horse in the mouth” . It would have taken us days just to cut the small branches and forget sawing through the trunk of the tree. So Ricky saved us a lot of work.

My point here is this, in this world of ME, ME, ME, there are people like Rigoberto who surprise you and and are generous with word and deed. Thank you Rigoberto. Your simple neighborly act has inspired me to be more neighborly myself.

My dad gave him the Craftsman chainsaw saying, “If you can get it running, it’s all yours”. In case you are wondering, Ricky refused money. He said he was just being neighborly.