A godwink is what some people would call a coincidence, an answered prayer, or simply an experience where you'd say, "Wow, what are the odds of that!"
What do godwinks mean? Think about when you were a kid and someone you loved gave you a little wink across the dining room table...Mom or Dad or Grandma. You didn't say "What do you mean by that?" You knew. It meant: "Hey kid, I'm thinking about you right now." That's what a godwink is too: a message of reassurance from above, directly to you, out of six billion people on the planet, saying "Hey kid...I'm thinking of you! Keep the faith! You're never alone."
I have to say, winks aren't always my favourite kind of thing. There are some pretty slimy winkers out there in the world. Fortunately, I have been surrounded by little winkers for eight years now and their winks fall more into the cute, sassy category. Kidwinks must be very different than godwinks, which differ from a wink, wink, nudge, nudge, too. The godwink illustration works well enough for me, as my Dad is the nicest winker I know. S, however, finds it far too cheesy! :)
Well, we got a "godwink" this August. Came home from A's last day at art camp and started my daily scramble to assemble dinner. This time, however, I was interrupted by: "MOM! There's a huge pool of water in the basement!" Sadly, we learned what homeowner's in old Winnipeg are supposed to know: drainage pipes to the street should be cleared out yearly as a preventative measure. So many trees on the street means so many roots growing through cracks into the pipes and blocking them.
S hurried home from work and we started to call roto--rooter companies. Being a Friday evening, after 5:00, I had five strike-outs and was starting to feel anxious. Already was, since I'd had this happen to a friend two months earlier and it had cost her $5000 to fix the broken pipes across the front yard. Me weepy, S took over the job and managed to line someone up. He'd be over in an hour. Phew!
Back to making dinner, I was interrupted by a phone call.
"Hi. This is Rhys, the plumber. I'm on my way."
Oh, great!! Do you know where we live?
"I do. Should be there in five minutes."
Oh, great! Thanks so much. See you then. Bye.
I hung up, preoccupied with dinner, but the phone instantly rang again.
"This is Rhys."
Oh, yes - the plumber!
"Yeah. But it's Rhys Rhys.
Yes, Rhys - the plumber?
Yeah. But Rhys, Lily's owner.
<insert pause here as I try to think of what is happening>
"You know Lily - your cat? It's that Rhys. I'm your plumber."
Oh!
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| Meeting Rhys and adopting Lily back in April |
And so it was that the only plumber in Manitoba that we (didn't even know we) knew happened to be on call for the weekend - something he only does once every six weeks. From a different area of the city, he got to come and visit his old cat and see that she was totally fine and content. So content that she really didn't acknowledge him, feline creature that she is! He quickly cleaned out our pipes and assured us it wasn't so big a problem - just a back-up. And he gave us the family discount, seeing that we were connected through the cat! So while an expensive evening, it was $4650 less than my friend's problem, so no complaining!).
After he cleaned out the pipes, he came up and joined me for dinner while S cleaned up the nasty sewage downstairs - cutting out the old carpet and underlay, washing kids play equipment and such! Turns out Rhys was in the midst of a personal crisis and really needed someone to talk to. An immigrant from England to Steinbach as a late teen whose family has now moved to BC (leaving him behind in Manitoba as he finishes studies), that would be trouble enough without other problems. Got me out of helping S for a good hour at least, listening to Rhys unpack his troubles. So . . . not only did we get a "godwink", but he did, too. Made a stinky problem for us far more bearable knowing God's surprising kindness to us three in the midst. Well, maybe not S who was doing the gross work in the basement . . .
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