“Coming home is one of the most beautiful things.”

— Andre Rieu

Life is about shouldering our responsibilities, making our way through the day in a positive way and fielding the problems that are tossed in our direction. Life is a form of boot camp and every experience an opportunity to learn and possibly make a new relationship.

Today was no exception. While supervising the planning repair of a leaky copper pipe in a newly purchased older home whose first test run was the hosting of a family Thanksgiving this year, I learned something, organized the immediate repair, some preventative maintenance and discovered some common ground over the phone with the vendor.

Patty, from Axis Plumbing, called to confirm the repair. I was sitting in Colorado (on a ski vacation) and she in Cleveland working early. This one call prompted several others to the Home Warranty Company, friends in Cleveland watching over the house and back to Patty to arrange for all the many steps in the process.

I could be grumpy over this negative surprise discovered in the basement on Thanksgiving evening with water streaming from a pipe and the unplanned expense. But instead this responsibility of home ownership gives me the opportunity to practice my positive attitude, planning, and problem-solving competencies and puts me in touch with new people.

In the many, early morning calls, Patty and I discovered our shared passion for period antiques and things made with our hands. As I described my 1940s Colonial Williamsburg home filled with antiques lovingly found by and with my mother, Patty shared her love of quilt making and the story of her great grandfather who was a carpenter/cabinet maker in upstate New York.

We both enthusiastically shared our love for the way life was lived and things made by people and their handy work that was a way of life. It was in discovering this shared experience that a friendship blossomed from a working transaction.

I love when this happens. When we find our human connections and deepen the experience, it makes for good relationships, good work, and good times going forward.

Though I have a hunch that I will need more plumbing support in the future for my 1940s home – I also know that I have a friend in Patty and Adrienne and Tom of Axis plumbing. It does take a village to live one’s life and care for our responsibilities of children, pets, homes, and selves.

My mother said to me as a teen, ‘Find what you love to do and you won’t work another day of your life.’ She was right and I have repeated this phrase many times. I would like to embellish upon it today, ‘Do what you love, and love what you do and the people with whom you are doing it and life will enrich you in ways you cannot plan or imagine.’

• Have you found what you love to do?

• Do you do it with people you love and respect?

• Do you share your passion for your work and your appreciation for your relationships?

• Do you encourage others to share their passion and develop a love for their work and working relationships?

• Have you made a new friend today with a co-worker, vendor or client?

Life is good. And I have made new friends today while tending to old pipes.