Hidden Treasure

Little did I know when I started ice skating that I'd end up in San Gabriel in someone's garage on a hot Saturday as my ice skates got sharpened.
It started during my stroking and edges class on Wednesday. Miss ML was helping me with my outside edges as I was skidding across the ice.
"You should not be skating on those!" she said and recommended Jerry A, the guy who sharpens her skates. She gave me his number after class and warned me that he kept "chicken farmer hours" and not to call after 4 PM.
I had B call Jerry A this morning around 11 AM. I could hear Jerry on the other end of the phone. He sounded grumpy and said he had closed for the day. Bummer.
The phone rang a few minutes after B had hung up and I handed it back to him.
"It's him," I said.
"How do you know?" B asked, since the number was blocked.
I gave him a look that said, "I know things."
It was Jerry A and he said he had misread the clock and what time could we get there. B took down directions and we drove off down the 134. I had thought Jerry A was based out of an ice rink, but I was pretty wrong. We drove for a while and ended up at a dead end street looking for a house with red bricks. Jerry A saw us from inside and waved us down. We went to his back garage and heard his story.
Years ago, Jerry A's daughter had a bad fall on the ice requiring 22 stitches on her chin. The fall was due to a bad sharping of her skates. After that, Jerry A decided to take matters into his own hands. He ordered a machine to sharpen skates and flew out a professional from Colorado for a day to show him how to use it.
Jerry A measured and took look after look at my skates, he adjusted the hollow and bite angle and did other technical stuff. He said that the blades had been sharpened for someone who was about 65 pounds and, no offense, but he didn't think that was exactly right for me. He was sweet and nice and informative. He explained that after B called, he remembered that next week was an important competition and that skaters would be calling him for sharpening like crazy and it was probably much better for us to come today. We talked about a lot of things and I loved thinking how he probably had no intention of sharpening any one's skates but his daughter's, but word probably got around and he ended up doing a lot of sharpening. Now he's probably retired and his daughter is grown up with kids of her own, but he's still sharpening skates. He had little notes all around the garage mixed in with pictures of his daughter. It said to call anytime after 6 AM but never after 4 PM because he and "his boss" liked to take their evening meal at 4 PM.
I love thinking that Jerry A is a hidden treasure in a neighborhood in San Gabriel. That somehow I started skating and took a class and my teacher referred me to him and I actually went and now I'm a little part of probably a much bigger and more interesting story. I mean, how many people have huge, complex machines that can only be used to sharpen skates in their back garage? It was a great surprise and a nice little reminder of how sometimes little discoveries can be the most beautiful things in life.