Lessons from a mini fridge
- Katie Bianchini
- Mar 20, 2019
- 6 min read
I've written about my roommates and college friends quite often on the blog because I love them dearly and I learned a lot living with them/learning to "adult" with them (as a side note, I hate the word "adulting").
Sure, students attend college to study, but it's really a great big opportunity to learn how to be a person in the world more than anything else. Because through trial and error and trial and another, different error that you also weren't expecting, you find out how things really work.
It's like when a teacher leaves me a "who to ask" note on their attendance sheet: "if the class gets out of order or something seems fishy, Ruby Doobidoo and Johnny Mcfawny will give you the low-down." (names changed to preserve the identity of Snohomish/Edmonds students)
College is all about becoming the Rubys and Johnnys of life.
For example, you might not have known that if you put something like a potato in the oven in a glass dish, and then the potato seems dry and you want to moisten it up with some water, when you put cold water on a hot glass dish it WILL shatter into thousands of teensy tiny fragments in the hot oven.
Perhaps you didn't know that when you exit your vehicle (or the vehicle of a friend) without turning off the headlights, the car will not start the next time you go to drive it. Then you have to call security to jump the car and if you don't drive around for 15 minutes or so after that, the car might not start again the next time you try to drive it. Except this time, you'll be off campus and in quite a fix.
Some "test actions," of course, turn out as major successes/valuable contributions to society as a whole. Maybe you lofted your beds and pushed them to the center of the room to create one gigantic bed for the last week of school, elaborately stacking the furniture for maximum floor space. Everyone in the free world benefits from this sort of innovative thinking.
One of the greatest Ruby-Johnny-moments of my college experience came about during my sophomore year when I roomed with Brooke Gordon, with whom I have shared many adventures. I feel it's appropriate to share this story now as Brooke will marry Christian in five days; I know the wisdom we gained in this situation will serve them well for years to come.
You guys know about dorm rooms: all the "easily modifiable" furniture fits in exactly one way in every room so that nothing else of normal-world-size can cross the threshold of your itty bitty kingdom. The two of you will split the closet space designed for a Smurf and never know where to store your Costco-size laundry detergent. (Ok real talk though, I loved my dorms at Lipscomb)
Finding ourselves in the circumstance described above, Brooke and I got creative.
After living in our room in Johnson Hall for a semester, we simultaneously noticed a two or three foot top shelf above our sink on which we had stored nothing. What kind of ridiculousness...a perfectly good shelf without any contents?!
A lot of items fit on a two or three foot shelf. To name a few: plastic stacking drawers, books, food, suitcases, boat loads of running gear/shoes. However, at the time, the item that seemed called to this spot in the room was our mini fridge that, when tipped on its side so that the door opened like a mailbox, would fit on the shelf as snugly as a quarter in a coin slot.
Now, stay with me here.
It's not like we just started hoisting the fridge up to the shelf without meticulous scientific testing beforehand.
We both lifted the fridge, measuring our hard-earned distance-runner strength. We lay the fridge on its side to assess if it would indeed still run in that position (and it would).
Filled with pride and confidence, we balanced on desk chairs and hefted the fridge up to the shelf.
We high-fived and triumphantly plugged it in to the outlet that for some reason existed up there.
No sooner had my hand left the plug than a buzz saw noise filled the room. Bewildered, we looked around for the source (which, based on our floor-level testing, could not possibly be coming from the fridge).
Spoiler alert: it was the fridge.
HOW?! And also WHAT?!
We tapped on it, opened and closed the door, and blew on it (works with video game consoles so this was kind of similar...?) to no avail.
The fridge metal vibrated against the wooden shelf. And there was not one centimeter of wiggle room to add a little fabric layer between the fridge and shelf to fix the problem.
In semi-defeat/semi-amazement, we undertook the process of returning the fridge to the floor.
This is when the real trouble set in.
Brooke balanced on the edge of counter while I stood on a desk chair. As she lowered the fridge off the shelf into my hands, stepping toward her desk chair, momentum took over.
"I DON'T HAVE HOLD OF IT I DON'T HAVE HOLD OF IT," I heard myself saying over and over as the fridge gained speed and Brooke's chair tipped away from me in slo-mo.
You guys have done this before: almost grabbed something that's falling several times in 100 different ways over the course of 1.23 seconds only to find that you still somehow didn't catch it.
In our attempts to beat gravity and recover the fridge, we actually succeeded in throwing the fridge to the ground from about five feet in the air.
Brooke's desk chair turned into a newborn pony walking in high heels, tipping and tossing back and forth until accepting defeat and meeting carpeted doom, dragging Brooke down with it.
You know how after a really loud crash, everything seems quieter than before? In the moment of silence that followed the clatter, we stared at each other and then the fridge like babies seeing themselves in the mirror for the first time.
Then the laughter, the type that's out-loud at first, and then silent/gasping for air.
We learned a valuable lesson that day: you can drop a fridge from five feet high and it'll still work when you plug it back in on the ground. Such resilience.
The Fall of the Fridge 2015 was a small set back in terms of the grand scheme of life, and at the time, we responded with disappointment. I remember thinking that we'd wasted time that day by trying something I should have known was silly.
But looking back, it's such a fond memory, a sitcom-esque story to share, and a genuinely valuable learning experience on a number of levels.
Sometimes I respond to what I perceive as "roadblocks"(minor or major) in my plan in the same way: with displeasure, feeling like I'm wasting my time or detouring from the "real goal."
In Genesis 37-50, we read the story of Joseph, a man whose life was riddled with "diversions" before he became Pharaoh's right-hand-man.
First, his own brothers strip him of his robe, throw him in a pit, and then dig him out only to sell him into slavery in Egypt. After that, Egyptian officials wrongfully put Joseph in jail when he's accused of a crime he didn't commit.
In prison, he interprets the royal cupbearer's dream, asking that the cupbearer remember him to help him get out. But the cupbearer forgets about him!
At this point in time, I would have lost hope, resigned to despair, and thrown in the towel. But Joseph demonstrates incredible faith in the Lord, doing his best at every seemingly menial job he's assigned in each situation.
Because of his Dr.-Ken-Foreman-esque devotion to excellence, his "employers" notice him and move him into a leadership position at each job: he's in charge of other slaves and he interprets dreams even from prison.
Eventually, these "delays" prepare Joseph for his destiny. His hard work brings him into Pharaoh's court where he becomes second in command over the kingdom.
In the ultimate turn of events, his brothers--the ones who threw him in the cistern--arrive in Egypt to get food because of a famine at home. They don't recognize Joseph as they bow at his feet, totally at his mercy.
And rather than take revenge on his siblings, Joseph recognizes God's divine plan as he reveals hs identity to them saying, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children" (Gen 50:19-21).
So, what "detours" are you facing? How might these trials or deviations from your expectations be preparing you for what's coming up next?
Over and over this year, stories like Joseph's have encouraged me: no step or situation is insignificant in the Kingdom of God. He's got you in this season and the ones to come.
Whether you're "attempting to place a fridge on a shelf" or "finding Rubys and Johnnys" in other ways, will you ask Him for the courage to fully engage where you are today?
Several fave pics with Brooke to close out the blog :) Everything from watching Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition religiously to gettin' fancy for the Lippys to trips to the DR.
*Can't wait to shoot Brooke and Christian's wedding this weekend (vids to come!)*
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