GAIL WHITE A moving tale: Sometimes, it's wiser just to accept defeat

I believe wisdom is not so much knowing a great deal, it is recognizing that which you don't know.
My husband became a little wiser this past weekend as we moved our household across town. It was wisdom gained at a very high price.
Wisdom said, "Hire a mover."
Pat said, "We can move ourselves."
(The events I am about to relate are true. There is no exaggeration or writer's embellishment in the details. This is a frighteningly pathetic account of actual events.)
How it all started
The debacle began after we bought our new house. Pat and the boys were up in the woods of our old house, cleaning up the property in preparation to sell.
All afternoon they worked, carrying debris from the woods in the back of the minivan to the roadside for garbage pickup.
Nearing completion, Pat and the boys made a final trip to the woods in the van. While the boys hustled out to pick up the last of the pile, Pat put the van in reverse to point it in the direction of the road.
In his haste to be done, he forgot about the doghouse sitting off to the side and he hit it square on the passenger side door. He probably forgot about the doghouse sitting there because the dog has never spent one night in it.
Wisdom was giving him a sign. "Hire movers," it was saying. Pat was not listening.
The week before we moved, he borrowed a large work van to transport boxes and small furniture items to the new house.
He loaded up the van and headed for our new home. An hour later he called.
"I'm stuck in the yard," he said. "See if we can borrow the neighbor's chain."
A vision of the two of us pulling this van out of the mud flashed through my mind. I called AAA.
By now, Wisdom was screaming at my husband, "Hire movers!" The call fell on deaf ears.
Paying heed -- sort of
Moving day came and Pat decided to heed a portion of Wisdom's advice. He hired five of my son's friends to help us move. This time, he borrowed another work vehicle -- a big, box truck.
"Go get the neighbor's dolly to move the big screen TV," he instructed me. I opened my mouth to protest and then closed it without saying a word. If he wasn't going to listen to the little voice of wisdom in his head, he wasn't going to listen to me.
I found the neighbor standing in his drive, working on a car with a friend.
"I have one last favor," I said to Keith, who is also our chain-lending neighbor.
A friend, jokingly, turned to Keith and said, "Oh, a favor. I'm glad I'm not you."
"You have no idea," I said dryly. "Can we borrow your dolly?"
"What are you moving?" Keith asked, a concerned look on his face.
"The big screen," I said. He turned pale.
Turns out, Keith and I had nothing to worry about the television. Before Pat got around to moving it, he drove the box truck through the yard and tore out the cable and telephone wires.
At this point, I believe, Wisdom shut her mouth and turned her back. Her voice had not been heard. Her signs had not been heeded. Sometimes, wisdom must be acquired through the school of hard knocks.
Pat had one more knock.
After the wire episode, moving was halted for the day. The rest of our belongings, except the big screen, were moved the following day without incident... until it was time to return the big, box truck.
The final straw?
Heading out of town, Pat and my son were laughing and talking, happy that we were all moved into our new home.
The truck went under a railroad underpass. The box did not.
He didn't call me for assistance this time. The police came to his aid. They weren't quite sure what to charge him with. They don't have a ticket for stupidity.
The jolt from the underpass seems to have knocked a shot of wisdom into Pat's head.
He and his boss have decided that he was not made to drive big vehicles.
"Stick to sales," his boss told him.
Wisdom is prevailing at home as well.
"I think I'll call the place we bought the big screen from and have them move it," he said one morning.
How sweet (and cheap!) words of wisdom sound!
gwhite@vindy.com