Grill Intervention

It was a pleasant, somewhat sunny Sunday afternoon and friends were planning to join us after church for some lunch and hanging out. My friend and I had discussed on a few occasions the day before what the menu would be and the plan for the get together. At one point she had mentioned rotisserie chicken since we couldn't grill. I explained that we had tons of meat, but we could not grill.

After years of using this old green Sunbeam grill, Dan had decided that it might be time to give it up. The grill is 12 years old. We got it just after buying our first house- back in Virginia. Three years ago now I think, the kids and I bought Dan a whole bunch of things to refurbish it- new burner, new grate, a new cover, some tools for the trade.

But still...it was getting bad. Really bad. The front of the grill was no longer attached to the frame so when the wind was blowing Dan had to hold down the front of the grill with his bbq fork while he grilled with the top up. Plus, you had to open it s-l-o-w-l-y. Sometimes flames would shoot out the back when the wind blew. And lately, he had to do a lot of flipping because there was only one tiny place where any flame would cook.

I'd been bugging him for a while to get a new grill, but no. Every year he says, "I'll wait till the sales in the fall." Then he doesn't get one. However, the last time he cooked a steak, he ran out of gas and hasn't replaced it. He finally said, "I think the grill is done." But that didn't mean he was going to buy a new one! FYI- frugality is a recent trait in my husband likely brought on by four kids and one income...he was not at all like this when we got married. Which begs the question why we didn't start with a super stainless steel model in the first place....come to think of it.

So, back to our get together...when Lisa and I settled the final plans for Sunday she said, "Do you mind if we bring the bbq?" Naturally I said no and considered what cooked, bbq-ed meat she might be bringing so I could have the right sides to go with it.

Turns out she meant "bring the bbq"! So, when they drove into our yard with a cart and a grill in it I started laughing! I knew the cart was coming with them because they've been taking some old tree trunks from us, but when I looked up and saw the grill in the back I knew...we were having a bbq!

So...Matt decided to stage a grill intervention on Dan. Since this was their spare grill (for camping only) and it was taking up precious shed space he would insist on leaving it with us and taking our grill away for good. He offered to take our grill with him...something about an upcoming "metal day" at the local dump.

Dan protests- saying good bye is hard.

He commits to letting it go. Ultimately, Dan remembered that the grill wasn't attached to the base and when they braked, it would fly forward so they turned the top on it's side and about 10 pounds of rust fell to the bottom of the cart. It was bad.

The spare grill- Matt will arrive Sunday after church to retrieve it any time they are going camping. The new grill is a loaner...Dan would only take it knowing he was helping a friend with a storage problem.

He made Matt promise to take his grill to a place where there are wide open fields and lots of grilling going on. Matt sent us this photo of our grill upon arrival at the farm. The caption read:

And here my story ends. My troubles are all over, and I am at home; and often before I am quite awake,I fancy I am still on the deck gazing through the window at the family that I loved so.

As for Dan...he told me this morning that he plans to catch some grills on sale this fall. Of course.