Filling in for Brent

I am not much of a problem solver. I stink at math and avoid it at every chance. When it comes to problems, I take them to Brent and he solves them for me.

And whenever Brent goes out of town, I find out how ridiculously dependent I have become on him.

Our only source of heat broke late Saturday afternoon. Brent was miles away.

Last winter we bought a gas fireplace. Sometime after that our furnace broke and lucky for us we had the fireplace and didn't need it.

But when the flame went out on Saturday, I called Brent, disturbing him from his busy schedule with his family in Washington. He told me step by step how to relight the flame. It was embarrassing how long this took. I am pretty clueless.

Of course I am. He always does this kind of stuff.

The ignite button wasn't igniting the flame so I was instructed to take the grate off and use a match. A couple hours and a box of matches later, we mutually decided that the fireplace was broken.

Oh, I learned how to light it. I got pretty good at that, but the flame always died a couple minutes later. It was now after 6 p.m. and too late to call for professional help. I was a bit panicky. Not because I really thought we were going to freeze. With the oven running and a small space heater we could all sleep in a downstairs room and be okay, I figured. And I knew we could always have a sleepover at someones house but I didn't want it to come to that. I wanted to take care of this.

Brent suggested something I wished I had been able to think of myself. Go buy a big electric heater. Isn't he a brain? He didn't tell me a price or model. So I drove to Home Depot and picked one out for myself. Back home again, I was dismayed to find no instructions in the box. I plugged it in and waited. . . and waited. . . but nothing happened. After trying Brent and all his brother's and sister's cell phones I finally went knocking on neighbor's doors. It was about 8 p.m. when I disturbed Chip lying on his couch watching a football game. He came over in his slippers.

Somehow it made me feel a lot better that he too though couldn't figure this digital heater out. We called the store and they suggested that maybe we should bring it back in for a new one. I was really getting sick of dealing with problems by now. I was supposed to be at a Christmas party tonight not home playing Mrs. Fix-it. This was supposed to be Brent's department not mine. Miles away and totally irresponsible for my problems, I found it easy to blame it all on him as I drove once again to Home Depot to search for an easy to operate electric heater.

This time I got some professional help while returning the first one and came home with the awesome kind that you just plug in and Voila - Here come's the heat.

By 9:30 the oven was off and our new electric heater was heating up our little home like a charm.

The next day I left Savannah with Marcus and Caroline, who have colds, while Kennon, Camille and I went to church. I do this a lot when the kids are just a little contagious. While leading a primary song, a bishopric member poked his head in and told me that my daughter was on the phone. I immediately panicked- It must be the heater! and ran down the hall.

"Mom, I was using the oven, I wanted to make a surprise, and had just opened the microwave and . . . " she was a little hysterical and wouldn't get to the point so I interjected, "Savannah, Is everyone okay?"

"Yes, But all the power went out. The oven, the microwave, and THE HEATER!"


So, being the savy sally I am I told her that for sure she must've blown a breaker. Then together Caroline, (standing by the oven, hollering when the lights came on) and Savannah (in the basement flipping breakers) and I (cheering them on from the church hall phone) got things up and running again. All without a phone call to Washington.

So can I survive on my own?

Not a chance.

This is just what happens when you are married to a handy man. So yeah, I guess I am grateful that he leaves me once in a while so I get the chance to scramble a bit on my own and learn a little bit.

And also to remember to appreciate him for all that he does when he is around.