Also Replaceable
September 1, 2011 (Thursday)
When writing about the old refrigerator and the ice box yesterday, I got to thinking about our side by side refrigerator-freezer. It has been in our kitchen here at our house for 41 years and still works well. Dwight reminded me that it is now older than I was when I bought it. Who said they don’t make stuff like they used to? Well, maybe they’re right, come to think of it, since this one was made a very long time ago.
My son-in-law, Mark, had a good laugh when we added a gas range to our kitchen appliances, because the brand is “Frigidaire” while the brand name of the refrigerator is “Hotpoint.” I had a good laugh with him when he pointed that out. I had not noticed the irony of the brands versus the type of appliances.
The only reason we have managed to keep the refrigerator-freezer going so long is the fact that Frank Wix kept it going with his repairs. He never let us down, always did good work, and made it possible for us to keep the appliance all this time.
The first refrigerator Wanda and I had when we got married in 1953 was the one that came with the upstairs apartment we rented in Cleburne, where she was teaching school. It was also near the seminary, where I was attending classes. The “fridge” was the same kind I described in yesterday’s blog, with the cooling tower on top. When we moved from Cleburne to Lampasas to pastor a mission church, we rented a refrigerator for a while, then bought one that we moved from Lampasas to Fort Worth, to Briar, to Kosse, to Dallas and finally to Rockport, where we used it for 6 years in the old parsonage near the old church. All in all, it served us for 16 years and did a great job. There was nothing wrong with it when we replaced it. We bought the side by side version when we moved to this house because the space in the kitchen had been designed for it. Besides, with a large family, we could always use it. So there it has remained, in the same spot, all these years. Don’t know how much longer it can last; don’t know that about myself, actually. I sort of hope the refrigerator and I keep each other going for quite a while longer. If not, we know everything will be all right. I’m willing to get a new fridge, and the Lord is ready with a new body. As Ethel Waters used to sing, “You just can’t lose when you know the Lord.”