I'm not nearly as handy around the house as I used to be 20 or 30 years ago. I don't have the strength and agility required. But there are still hundreds of things that I can do without even thinking that we need to hire a handyman for.
I thought about that this morning when I was on the ground reinstalling the threshold flashing on the bottom of Cherril's front screen door. For once I had brought all the right tools and she had saved all the important hardware so the job was really a snap: Remove the old screws; Drill new holes in the flashing for the old screws; Place the flashing where it barely skims the outside welcome mat; Drill pilot holes for each of the three screws; Screw in each of the old screws; Try out the replaced flashing. Everything went exactly as I would have wished so it looked like I knew what I was doing.
I'm guessing Cherril is probably in her high 60's or maybe 70 but she is very active in volunteer organizations. But she had no idea how she would fix the door and was on the verge of calling a handyman when I volunteered. When she saw the tools I brought she was impressed. I felt a little embarrassed since they really were just common garden variety tools.
I wonder if I would feel the same uneasiness about cooking or washing a particularly difficult piece of clothing. I know I don't feel comfortable working on a car's engine, transmission, etc. where my brother Woody wouldn't think twice about taking a whole car apart. I guess we're all handy in our own way.
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