A Helpless Homeowner’s Love Letter to All Repairmen
And special thanks to the expert who spent Father’s Day at my house
Dear Repairers (women and men):
I am grateful you are a phone call away. I am thankful for your expertise, your kindness, your patience.
You give condolences when I cry, remembering how my late husband used to care for our home. He died four years ago. And since then, it’s especially painful to be confronted by unexpected home repairs.
Each breakdown is a fresh reminder that he’s no longer here. I am vulnerable. I am more reliant than ever on you.
So please know I appreciate it when you answer my questions. You explain breakdowns. You offer solutions. You smile.
Thank you for understanding how helpless I feel sometimes.
It’s not that I lack mechanical ability. It’s not that I can’t search for YouTube DIY videos. It’s not that I don’t mend broken machinery myself.
In fact, my husband loved to brag about how I fixed our washing machine after ordering a part online. And the washer still runs despite being 40 years old.
It’s that I know enough to recognize when a breakdown is beyond my expertise. I know when to call a professional. And I thank you for responding to my calls.
Such was the case when my air conditioner started blowing hot air Friday night. Just in time for the weekend. Hooray!
Luckily, I live in Florida. So, I am accustomed to hot, muggy weather. Luckily, a repairman from our maintenance company was on-call Saturday.
Unluckily, he was 150 miles away on another job. But he promised a 7 am Sunday arrival and was on time. Three hours later, he’d found and repaired the problem (a clogged line and full drain pan triggering the cooling unit to turn off).
He also added a p-trap to prevent future problems. A true professional, taking that extra step even on a weekend call.
Then I learned he was a new father. And this was his first Father’s Day. His 4-month-old baby boy waited at home.
Yet he spent the morning at my house, climbing a ladder into my 100-degree attic to check the air handler. Climbing down with his tools. Climbing a second ladder in 90-degree sunshine outside in the alley to reach my garage roof and check the air compressor. He did this a dozen times or more.
He said, “It’s not a big deal,” missing his first Father’s Day. It was his turn to be on call. All done with a smile, with energy, with kindness. A professional to the core.
I am certain he’ll be a fabulous father. Just like my husband.
Sincerely,
A grateful widow, grandmother, and homeowner
Postscript
June is proving to be personally challenging. So I have more repairmen to thank. These are some of the people who help me bounce back.
- My auto mechanic, who replaced my fuel pump, then delivered my car.
- The military veteran who started a gutter installation and repair business, for re-attaching my soffit within hours of my call.
- The Apple Genuis Bar computer expert who analyzed and expedited repair of my laptop display screen.
- My husband, my ultimate handyman, who did all this for 42 years with no complaint.
And the month is only half over. Hooray!
