One of my best qualities is my refusal to give up.

It’s also one of my worst.

This decision to seldom cry “uncle” is fueled by knowledge I’m surrounded by things that refuse to give up.

The microwave is first on my list. When I put leftovers in that metal box, the microwave will beep for hours until I take that day-old meatloaf out.

How do I know? I heated up a cup of water to see how long until the microwave would give up. After an hour, I gave up, not the microwave.

We had a refrigerator that would beep if we left the door open too long. I hated that feature because I come from a long line of fridge gazers.

As kids, we’d open the door and look around to find something to snack on.

That gazing aggravated my father. He’d see feet underneath an open refrigerator door and someone’s right arm draped over the top of the door. Then he’d hit the roof.

“Visualize what’s in there, open the door, grab it and then shut the door,” he’d yell at least twice a day. Our answer was, for kids, pretty accurate.

“If I knew what was in there, I wouldn’t have to stand here looking around,” we’d reply in our defense.

There’s a few other things that refuse to give up.  Gum in the carpet is stubborn. Removal requires patience, ice and a lot of elbow grease. Carpet fibers hang on to gum like its gold.

I tried using peanut butter to remove the gum, just like I did when my youngest son got gum stuck in his hair.

Let’s just say that attempt was a total mess, especially as our dog was practically shoving me out of the way to get at the peanut butter.

Smoke detectors, when the battery needs changing, fall in the category of things that refuse to give up. So do screaming 2-year-old toddlers and any talking toy they own.

If you’ve ever been awakened in the middle of the night by a creepy clown voice asking if you want to have fun, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

The batteries in our flashlights last about an hour. The batteries in our granddaughter’s annoying cash register toy have been going strong for five years.

Being placed on hold is usually a quick hang up for me. But if I don’t have anything else to do, I’ll stay on hold to see how long companies will keep an actual customer on hold. So far, the record is 42 minutes and I still didn’t get a satisfactory answer.

There are times I do throw in the towel. I give up quickly in the grocery store line or in traffic. If another line looks like it’s moving faster, I’ll switch in a second.

I also give up before trying in the following circumstances:  running, jumping, hiking, long-distance spitting – my sons believed this was an actual contest – calculus, putting air in my bike tires and anything electrical. These are all better left to professionals.

However, I surprised myself when I didn’t give up in an area I usually don’t even attempt to conquer – math.

I was helping my grandson with his homework. He was struggling with one of the math pages and asked me to check his work. I had my eldest granddaughter look up the definition for “lowest common denominator.”

All his answers were wrong. We went over the correct definition a few times, and he said he’d erase and start over.

“Don’t give up,” I heard myself telling him. Once he understood the concept that 3/6 is actually 1/3, he finished the paper in no time. (** This is incorrect. I’ll be danged if I can find the right answer!)

For once, I was glad I didn’t give up on math. Now if I can get the dog to quit licking that spot in the carpet, all will be right with the world.

 

     This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.