How many trips must one take as a minimum to Lowes for a project? When my friend and I set out to finish up the irrigation in the back yard to keep the plants alive until fall when we put the finishing touches on the yard and plant the last plants, we thought we had it made. We made a list, checked it at least six times, and then we set out to Lowes. Even with our combined intellect and experience, it didn't seem to matter.
For starters, the first store didn't have enough of one thing we needed, necessitating a subsequent trip. I don't really understand how they make the decisions regarding how many of each item to keep in stock or how they can run out of something for yard irrigation now that Las Vegas is no longer experiencing a housing boom. There should be plenty of everything in the store for me to revamp from one store inventory. I was wrong, so I drove to another store to pick up another of that item and to get a few things we inevitably forgot anyway.
In addition to that, every project we begin seems to hit an unforseen snag. Owing to some previously poor work by the prior occupant, we had to make a change. In order to fit the pipes around some very poorly poured concrete rather than dig it up, I had to go back and buy a 45 degree elbow so we could bend the pipe around the obstacle, something we could not possibly foresee before we started the project.
Every project, and I mean every project, started by man is prone to mistakes made by man. I got in a groove assembling the pipes so that I actually assembled a set of valves incorrectly. So, back I went to the store for a $0.59 cap so that I could make up for my excitement to get something done independently while my friend worked on some other part of the project. I cut a pipe too short and did a few other things, but we were able to salvage all of the other mistakes without other pieces. No matter how well you plan, eventually you make a mistake, and sometimes you have to go back to the store.
In short, this project alone took three trips, which I found to be interesting. Three is a symbolic number in many cultures and religions. It's also known that things usually come in threes. Whatever the case, I was grateful for the opportunity to stop off after work tonight to pick up the last piece so I can knock it out tonight and get things ready to automate. The best laid plans of mice and men so oft go awry, and I think they know we are human, that we will make mistakes, that we will not think of everything. So many humans like to arrogantly think they can consider everything, plan for everything, and do everything. Lowes shows us that we can't. We'll have to return, to repent, to go back again and again for the tools necessary to make our lives right. We don't have them, but we know where to go to get them.
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