Funny Gravel

April 17, 2019

“Hey, you wanna hear something funny?” 

Son Matt was on the other end of the line, and knowing his keen sense of humor, I said, “Sure.”

“You know that load of gravel you ordered for my driveway?” I remembered easily; after all, it was only a day or two previously that I had called my friend and asked for a load to fill in the low spots of Matt’s driveway—the ones filled with standing water.

“Yeah,” I responded tentatively, suspecting this was not going to be as funny as Matt thought it was.

“Well, he dumped it in the neighbor’s driveway.”

“WHAT? How could that have happened? I told him which place, and he only had to look to see the huge puddles in your driveway!”

“All I know is when I got home from work, my neighbor came over and asked if I had ordered gravel. It was there when she got home from work, so she called her husband to see if he had ordered it. He hadn’t, so they were wondering how they had a pile of gravel in front of their garage.”

I drove over, and sure enough, there was a pile of gravel in the neighbor’s driveway, while Matt’s puddles were as wide and watery as before. In a brief conversation with the very amicable neighbor, I told him I’d move it immediately if needed; otherwise tomorrow. The next day was fine with him, so guess what I’ll be doing instead of my planned activities? 

All in all, it turned out to be no big deal, and I’m thankful for Matt’s gracious neighbors, for the forecast of good weather tomorrow, and that I have the equipment I’ll need to move that pile of gravel without having to resort to a shovel and a wheelbarrow. But next time Matt asks if I want to hear something funny, I think I’ll decline.