Dateline Boston — I married a handyman. Husband is good at a lot of things—working with computers, mincing vegetables, reading maps. He’s also great at doing small jobs around the house that I might be able to do, but not easily. I don’t take it for granted, but when I started seeing him work his magic at other people’s houses, I knew I had something special.
When I was a nanny, the family I worked for had an ongoing list of things that needed to be taken care of. Little things, like replacing the battery in the smoke detector, hanging a mirror, patching a hole in the wall. Husband went over and did these tasks, usually in 10 minutes. The parents were so grateful. It was nothing to Husband, for whom fixing things comes naturally.
A few weeks ago, we were at a friend’s house, and I was talking about Husband’s skills. My friend got a sparkle in her eye. “Could he look at these chairs? And this light?” Husband advised her on who to call to fix the things he couldn’t. He also went outside her house and inspected a hole and the foundation.
Husband has owned a few houses in his time. What he didn’t pick up from his father, he has learned on the job. He’s very happy that we rent an apartment so that he’s not doing odd jobs for our house continuously. I keep him busy enough with furniture that has to be assembled.
He saves the day on a regular basis. He got a call from the aforementioned family the other night. We even FaceTimed so that he could see what the problem was. The giant air conditioner that Husband had installed in the summer wasn’t coming out of the window. The screws were removed, but the thing wouldn’t budge. I whispered to Husband, “I think you should go over there.” He donned his Fixit cape and flew over, removing the unit with a squeeze and a slide. He made sure to show how it was done for future reference (he’ll still get a call).
The Director of my nursery school and I were talking about Husband’s skills, and she said to me, “Do you know how lucky you are?” I do. She mentioned a couple of small jobs that needed a screwdriver. Husband took care of them in minutes.
I think that Husband should have a weekend job where he goes to people’s houses and does small jobs that regular handypeople don’t want to do because it’s not worth their time. He could zip around town in a mere couple of hours and put the money into our retirement account.
I’ll work on him, and he’ll work for you, power drill in hand.
Ms. Vaillancourt may be contacted at snobbyblog@gmail.com
