In a moment now regretted, one of us (who I won’t name) couldn’t open the frozen shut storm door to get into our house during the worst of the winter cold. The back door was blocked by six feet of snow.  Rather than asking a neighbor for some boiling water to free the door, this person forced the handle and broke it.

That weekend we bought a new handle.  Unfortunately the holes in the storm door were in the “wrong” place.  So we bought a second handle with holes in the right place.

It is too painful to describe how hard the person I won’t name worked to install that handle. We thought we had it right until I went out to get the paper early the next morning (with no coat, I might add) and the door wouldn’t open when I tried to come back in.  Fortunately, Peter heard me banging on the door over the loud TV in the basement where he was exercising.

Bottom line—We have asked our neighbors to recommend a handyman.  More important, we are beginning to accept the fact that we need to get help for some things we always did ourselves. 

It’s an adjustment.