I always hear that plumbers are impossible to come by. We have had great luck with a local plumbing company.
Today Richard came to save us from our plumbing disaster. He was a 63 year old guy. Nice guy and honest and a decent plumber. . He and Kelly worked together and laughed, Before long the backed up toilet and the backed up dishwasher and the low pressure in the kitchen sink was cleared. Such a good feeling.
He sat at our dining table to write out and pay the bill. While sitting he started to talk about his 6 ft 3 in son who weighs 230 lbs and is a drag queen. WHAT??? You could tell that he was "embarrassed to speak it out-loud".
He did not know this until he and his wife recently went to his recent performance. His wife did his makeup and cheered him on while he sat in the audience with his daughter waiting for the show to start. In the middle of the concert, his son announced to his dad that he was HIV positive but that he is on medication that is keeping him well. Richard was blind sighted and the spot light was on him. He shared that his son was not as naturally talented or professional as the other performers but he had a sense of humor that was undeniable. He also said( as he choked back tears) that his son was just chosen as "Miss congeniality" in the pride celebration ". He beamed speaking of how funny and personable his son is.
He said to us " i need to love my son". I said to him in response with tears in my eyes " Yes you do!". We literally shared tears of I hear you and I feel you. It was crazy. You could see that this is a struggle for him. but the softness in his heart was a beautiful thing to witness . A random plumber from Florida. I said it must be difficult especially being in Florida .
You could tell that there is a piece of his heart that is broken as that is not what he envisioned. But it was beautiful to see his willingness to consider and realize that his duty was to find unconditional love. What i assume to be a conservative Florida plumber seeking to love unconditionally and break down the barriers . This gives me hope. As i work to look at my judgements
This touched my heart. It was a random interaction that was remarkable. . i love what happened . I am ending my evening feeling the magic of it. The weird sacredness of what happened between us and the plumber.