There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a cheerful temperament. (Henry Van Dyke)

August 9, 2019–

Sweating profusely from my long walk and with a bottle of water in my hands, I meandered out to the back porch where Tom promptly said, “Don’t sit down. We have an urgent situation.” He then led me to the garage where he explained that while I was gone, there was a loud popping sound apparently generated by the large springs that operate the garage door, which was now utterly inoperable. An attempt to manually open said door was also a fail. That meant that Tom’s car and Drew’s car were stuck in the garage. Both of these handsome gentlemen of mine were not just a little concerned about how we were going to get that resolved ASAP. A guy’s got to get to work, you know! Enter the handsome and affable Darrell Drane! He’s pictured above with his very sharp truck!!

In this family, there are certain tasks for which I am permanently in charge. Among those are the acquisition of all birthday and Christmas presents, gift wrapping, laundry, grocery shopping, kids school and church “stuff”, resume updates, fireside s’mores assembly, bill paying…and last but not least, the scheduling and managing of all broken things that require outside assistance. Don’t feel one bit bad for me, because I am a princess who gets door-side drop off at Sam’s Club on rainy days and I literally never mow my own yard. When you add to that the fact that all summer long my husband grills our dinner, I am a pretty lucky girl. Anyway, I snagged the phone number from the sticker on the back of the broken door and placed a call. Indy Overhead Door came to my rescue right away!

Now, back to my new big brother, Darrell, who I learned is the owner of the company. He took to calling me “sis” while he was here and I am completely cool with that, because he seems like the kind of positive human anyone would love to have as a family member! The man drove here at 9pm from the other side of Indy to replace the broken garage door parts– springing my men loose– so to speak!! Not only did he show up at that late hour, but he entertained us with stories about his family and asked us about ours too. He made us giggle and marveled at Drew’s size 14 feet, sharing that his son has the same large foot “affliction”. It was clear as a bell that this cheerful man loves his people, heck, all people… and is incredibly proud of his four children!

Today, Darrell was back at the Thieme house to pre-empt a similar situation on our other door and I was able to take the picture above. Doesn’t he have just the most sunny smile? He’s got a fantastic sense of humor and a heart of gold. I truly enjoyed listening to him share with me a little bit about each of his kids, and he showed me a picture of his youngest son (who at 16 is just a little older than Zach) and his daughter, Paige (I hope I’m spelling her name right), who is frankly one of the most stunning young women I have ever laid eyes on. Holy cow, she’s beautiful– and apparently quite bright too– as she’s attending IU Kelley School of Business on a rather impressive academic scholarship! Darrell is a proud dad with a soft spot for those 4 kids that was impossible to miss.

Darrell Drane is one of those folks who is a blessing to all in his path. He’s a pro at customer service and utterly full of personality. Thank you, Darrell, for reminding me how important it is to treat everyone with kindness and to BE CHEERFUL ALWAYS! The world is so much better with you in it! Also, if you ever need a garage door guy and you don’t call my new friend from Indy Overhead Door, then it’s your loss. He’s top shelf!