Half a man

Derek lost his hammer.  Doesn't seem SO bad, but since he's a handyman, it's a big deal.  He had been without it for a week or two, and I'm surprised that he survived.

So on Monday, for Family Night, he suggested that we have a short lesson and then go to Home Depot to get a shiny new hammer.  Can you guess what the lesson was on?  That's right, being a "tool" here on Earth for Heavenly Father.  Pretty clever don't you think?  And as cheesey as the inspiration for the topic was, the lesson ended up great.  It's always hard to come up with stuff for just the two of us.  We had been reading out of the Teachings of the Prophets books to prepare for Sunday's Priesthood/Relief Society lesson, but we kind of quit once we started the Joseph Smith book.  Don't get me wrong, it's a GREAT book!  I love how all the stuff Joseph Smith said is in one place.  It's just not so good for reading it for FHE.  Anyways, back to the lesson.  We both talked for a few minutes about how we can be, or are "tools."  It was pretty inspiring for me because as I thought of the ways that I am being a tool right now, I realize that I could be doing so much more! (That last sentence is true on so many levels!)

After we talked for a while, we went on to phase II in our plan, Home Depot.  Derek was so excited!  He hadn't been there for quite a while... at least a month.  It's his favorite store in the whole world.  Do you remember the commercials H.D. had running around Father's Day (at least, I think it was HD)?  It was something like, "think of where Dad would go if he had no other place to be?"  I kept thinking, what a dorky commercial, they just want people to buy stuff from them for their Dads.  Derek on the other hand kept saying, "That's where I would go if I had no other place to be!" Cute guy!  And yet another small digression.

We got to Home Depot, and of course, we needed to look at the flooring, specifically tile and hardwood.  That is the one part of HD that I really enjoy.  The rest of the store is somewhat boring for me.  The reason for going there is always exciting (like building a bed) and that usually gets me through.  But the flooring section is pretty.  I like to look at it and plan future bathrooms, laundry rooms and kitchens. 

After looking at the flooring, we headed on over to the tool section.  I was a little disappointed because in another home improvement store (not sure if it was Lowes or Home Depot) there was a "Tool World."  That made tools exciting.  But at our Nampa Home Depot, there's no "Tool World," just a tool isle.  We found the hammers.  I had NO IDEA there were so many types.  I guess that makes sense though, there are a lot of different uses for hammers.

Derek started trying them out, swinging them in the air to get a feel for them.  It didn't worry me too much.  I was far enough away from him to be out of danger, but it just looked funny to me for some reason.  Probably because there wasn't anything to hammer.  It was like a golfer getting a new club.  They swing it at imaginary balls to get a feel for the clubs, looking completely serious.  That's a little what my Derek looked like. And all the while saying things like, "...too heavy," or "...too light," or "...this handle's uncomfortable."  He ended up choosing a hammer that was pretty much exactly like his lost one, good ol' Stanley brand, but I think this time he got a 20 oz.

 Anyways, the whole point of this post is what he said as we were walking out of the store.  He turned to me and said, "Without my hammer, I felt like half a man!"  I told him, "Not half a man, just half a handyman!"  What a guy!  He is sure happy to have a hammer again!

PS:  Thanks to our excellent friend, Brent, for helping him get a replacement!