It might be the happiest I’ve ever been to see a knife on my front porch.
Before I sound too psychotic, let me explain.
When Wyndi and I first started dating, we noticed that she had the matching couch to the love seat I had purchased. She had joked it was proof we were meant to be together.
While the couch weathered the move to our current house and regular use, the love seat had not and it took us a little too long to notice. Our friend kept using more and more pillows when he sat there and one day, when I plopped down and felt a wood support bar through the cushion I realized why.
Despite the kismet of our matched living room set, we started looking for a replacement and got it as an early Christmas gift from my parents.
Worries about replacement included the color no longer exactly matching and there was of course, the super sharp expensive Cutco paring knife that I knew had to be in the furniture somewhere. I had been enjoying some Veldhuizen cheese while watching a movie and noticed it was missing probably a week later.
As a city customer, I called the loveseat in for bulk pickup but Waste Connections didn’t come back for it (likely due to the electrical pole work on our street that week). The city offered to let me leave the loveseat out front since we had called it in properly but I didn’t think a beat up couch near the first intersection in town helped the city’s image.
I moved it to the side of our house and flipped it upside down since I didn’t want to invite a sleeping space for well, anything, by our driveway. In moving the couch no less than five times, I had flipped it over a lot to see if I could hear anything loose. No luck.
I also expected I would be taking out some holiday aggression in cutting up the loveseat for disposal, but we were extremely grateful to find our next door neighbor took it to the dump for us one day. When you’re in a busy schedule, acts like this feel like a real blessing.
What made it even better was the still super sharp paring knife on one of our patio chairs (and the fact that I saw it instead of sat on it). My neighbor said it shook loose as he tore the lining all the way out and knew it was pricey by the handle.
It may not seem like much, but it’s one of my favorite tools in the kitchen that’s been missing for about a year.
The fact that it came in an act of neighborliness put me in a good mood before I came to work.
Dublin is entering 2026 still dealing with the growing pains of multiple construction crews impacting our businesses and traffic flow. The best thing about our community to me has always been the way we care for each other. I offer a belated Merry Christmas to Erath County and the surrounding area and a wish that we all show a little patience and support for each other in the new year. It may make all the difference.
I’ve learned a little knife can go a long way.
— Paul Gaudette is the Managing Editor of The Dublin Citizen and can be reached via email at publisher@ dublincitizen. com. His knife puns are often on point.