When I was 14 years old I took a bus ride to my Aunt Elsa’s and Uncle Sidney’s house in rural northern Vermont.  The bus ride alone could fill a story as well as the day to day events of that trip.  I’m going to focus on one incident which I recently thought about for the first time in many years. 

My aunt and uncle had 3 boys all around my age and two older daughters living in their sprawling half finished brick ranch house.  It was summer time and the boys did farm work.  Some of the work they did for themselves, but they also had side jobs for some of the farmers nearby.   My 3 cousins all slept in a full size bed together.  They would work all day in the hot sun and come home in the evening tired and hungry.  Showering was not high on their agenda and the evenings were very humid as I recall.  The boys weren’t very tall and they slept sideways across a full size bed and they graciously invited me to do the same.  There was no way I was having any of that so I chose to try and find better sleeping accommodations.  The older girls Lucy and Bernie each had their own rooms with full size beds in them.  I was hoping I might be able to convince them to double up and let me have one of their beds.  I soon found out they had a feud brewing between them.  The feud was the result of Bernie having a boyfriend and Lucy not having any prospects.  My hopes of sleeping in a cozy bed for my month-long stay looked dim. 

I ended up sleeping on their old broken couch which was pretty knarly and uncomfortable.  To top it off my allergies began acting up soon after I arrived, and I soon found myself in pretty bad shape.  The three boys would head off very early in the morning to do all of their chores.  I was invited, but I soon became aware that I was doing all the jobs no one wanted to do.  I got to dig up an overflowing septic tank and anything else no one else wanted to do.  After a couple of days I began staying in when the boys left in the morning. 

My aunt and uncle had a vegetable stand which the girls usually worked at. They soon realized that they could have me work the fruit stand so they could have their afternoons free.  Although I never got paid for any of the work I did, this job was cleaner than the others and the customers were mostly from out of state traveling through.  I enjoyed the contact with civilization when it came. 

On one weekend the whole family went up to Quebec for a family gathering.   I dreaded the event because I knew it was going to be a French speaking affair and I’d be left hanging out by myself most of the evening.  My aunt told me there would be some other English speaking friends there and that she would surely introduce them to me.  During the party she brought over a young guy who looked a couple of years older than me.  My aunt introduced him to me as David.  David seemed like a nice guy, but my mind immediately crafted a fix for my sleeping situation.  I asked David how old he was and if he had a girlfriend.  He was the same age as my cousin Lucy and he wasn’t seeing anyone at the time.  I brought him right over to Lucy and introduced them to each other.  It took me literally 30 seconds for me to accomplish this task. 

A while later, my aunt came by and asked where David was.  She was upset that I had seemingly pushed him off without giving him a chance.  I told her that I fixed David up with Lucy and that things were progressing nicely.  My aunt was very pleased and wondered aloud why she didn’t think of it herself.

Lucy was so happy with the evening’s events that she gave me her bed for the rest of my stay.  Lucy and David dated for a while and then got married.  They raised 5 great kids and they are still together and doing well 30+ years later.  I don’t even know if they remember how they met or my ulterior motives for introducing them to each other.  Isn’t it interesting how God took my selfish act and used it for something really special?  I may have introduced them anyway, but God made sure that I was motivated to get the job done.

Dan Dufresne