by Patricia Lamkin
March 12, 2013
I’ve been changing vacuum belts, unclogging my own toilets, unjamming garbage disposals and fixing malfunctioning appliances in my
various dwellings for as long as I have dwelled in them. Pulling up my sleeves
is part of my character. But,
unfortunately even “liberated” women like myself sometimes have to be reminded
there’s no shame in it. Yesterday that reminder came from an unexpected source.
I have been at my mother’s house in southwest Mississippi to
attend to some much-needed home maintenance and repairs. Yesterday morning I
had a roofer over– the roof has been leaking in several places, and it has been
raining here quite a bit. I had this old fashion southern notion that if I put on something casual nice, I would be treated better than if I just threw
on my home improvement jeans and t-shirt. Works when I take my car in for service in L.A.,
right? Well, the roofer
arrived, a gracious “good old boy” of 60, and asked me to come outside. I
walked out, expecting to just glance up thoughtfully as he pointed at the roof.
To my surprise the first place he pointed was the ladder. “After you!” he said.
Needless to say, what I was wearing was suddenly quite inappropriate –
especially the shoes. I went back
in, threw on my jeans and rubber all-terrain sandals, and up the ladder I
went.
Sometimes even I underestimate my ability to take on
something a little out of my comfort zone, but when I leave that zone behind, it feels really good. Like that time I figured out how to
remove the plastic J pipe under the bathroom sink. I’ve been cleaning the gunk
out myself ever since. What a sense of accomplishment - even if it is
disgusting and stinks!
Of course I’ve been on a roof before, but it was fun to get
up there with a pro, and even educational. I
learned a little about flashing and attic vents, and got to see first hand the
toll a roof takes after 20 years of hail, and rain - not to mention
hurricanes Katrina and Isaac! As we walked over the roof, I gave my expert some roofing advice on the project.
He laughed, and said maybe he should hire me!
Thanks to that roofer, my daring, do-it-yourself nature has been re-affirmed. Now I’m
ready to take on the two broken toilets, change the calcified shower-head and
figure out why the fridge won’t stay cold. I’ll keep you posted on my progress!
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