“I’ll sleep better tonight knowing that you and your family are safe.”
VIP 5 // Trevor
We were in western Nebraska, on our way driving home to Oregon after a month with my family in Pennsylvania. We were still recovering and processing the reality that my dad had passed away. We were exhausted, emotions were frayed and we just wanted to get home.
Snap.
I had just exited the highway to stop for gas and suddenly our cargo trailer was dragging on the ground instead of rolling as it had been for the last 1,000 miles. The hitch tongue had snapped in half.
We got lucky that it happened at 25 mph on the exit ramp. If I hadn’t decided to stop then, it would have happened at 70mph on the highway. But still, not the type of repair that one generally travels prepared for. We were also fortunate that the mishap occurred right across the street from a commercial trailer repair shop, however we still had no way to pull the trailer into the shop because the tongue was just flopping. So we had to wait a few hours for a wrecker to come move our disabled trailer for us.
Here you can also see the aftermath of the previous day’s blown tire which blew off the right fender and the taillight. Once we got the trailer moved to the repair shop, we met someone who would become a messenger of mercy. Trevor is a welder at the shop. He quickly diagnosed the damage and had the basic repair done in about 1.5 hours. We both agreed though that in order make it reliably safe, it needed to have some additional steel bracing added to it.
It was already 5pm and the shop was closing for the day. Trevor said to me, “1,500 miles is a long way to go. Why don’t you follow me back to my house and I’ll put in some more bracing for you.”
He then spent the next two hours laying in the dirt and welding in new steel to brace the trailer tongue. He asked for nothing in return. He simply said, “I’ll sleep better tonight knowing that you and your family are safe.”
Trevor is only 23, but remarkably skilled and passionate about his trade for someone so young. He even took the time to teach me a few things about welding, something I’ve been wanting to pick up. Trevor is married to his high school sweetheart who he’s known since they were both children and they have a beautiful little boy. It’s rare today to meet someone his age who is so put together.
It was a true blessing to have crossed paths with Trevor. I wanted to make sure that his generosity to us would not go unnoticed so I asked if I could photograph him for my Very Interesting People series.
