Not so handy

There’s an old saying that very much applied to my dad: If he can’t fix it, it ain’t broke.

Dad made his living fixing things that didn’t work. He spent more than 25 years as a service technician for Sears Roebuck and Company, long before the company ran into financial trouble and declared bankruptcy. He drove a service van all over central and south Arkansas, sometimes even into northern Louisiana.

I once saw my dad correctly diagnose the problem with a customer’s washing machine — by listening over the phone as the man described the sound the washer was making.

I say all that to say this: I have trouble screwing in a light bulb.

I don’t know why, but I have never been mechanically inclined. It’s something that seemed to come naturally to Dad and to a lesser extent to my uncles. But the handyman gene apparently just skipped right over me.

Now, I like to think I have some other talents. Some folks say I’m pretty fair at stringing words together to tell a story. But I’d be willing to trade a little of that ability for a little more skill at handling a hammer or a screwdriver.

The one thing I will say in my defense is that I recognize my shortcomings and that saves me from making things worse. I know that I can’t fix the garbage disposal, so I leave it alone. That way instead of a non-functioning garbage disposal AND a mangled hand, I only have the former.

I know when it’s time to call for help, and fortunately that handyman gene that passed me by didn’t skip over my sons. Ronnie and Ryan are both far superior to me at fixing things, and putting them together.

That’s come in especially handy (pardon the pun) lately. A new home has meant lots of new things that require assembly, as well as a few minor repair jobs.

Ryan lives here in Berryville, so he’s gotten accustomed to me texting to say “I got you something.”

What that really means is “I got something for you to assemble when you aren’t working or sleeping.”

So far, Ryan has put together an entertainment center, a patio set and a couple of new kitchen chairs. As I’ve told him multiple times, if I had taken on any of those projects myself I probably would have wound up bleeding and cursing — although I did successfully assemble a pair of wire racks for the pantry as well as a scratching post for the cat!

Since Ronnie lives in North Little Rock, I don’t get to call on him quite as much. But he did fix the aforementioned garbage disposal when he and his family came to visit a couple of weeks ago.

I’m grateful for my sons every day, but I’m especially grateful that they don’t mind helping me out.

I look forward to seeing Ronnie and his family again this coming weekend. And while he’s here, maybe I might get that new garage door controller hooked up …