Goodness, thy name is maintenace guy

I learned a valuable lesson this week and I feel compelled to share it with you, just in case you ever find yourself in a similar situation. So please, pay attention as I present to you - ta da! - the parable of the broken dryer. (Actually it's not technically a parable, but the word story doesn't seem to merit fanfare, so we're gonna stick with parable.)

After our dryer bit the big one, Adam and I took a couple days to mull over our options. One, fix the current dryer. Two, buy a new dryer. Three, start frequenting the local laundromat. Though our attempt to dismantle, clean, and reassemble our dryer resulted in quality time together and three days of picking lint out of my hair, Adam and I couldn't help but realize that we know nothing about fixing dryers. And we didn't really want to just go out a buy a dryer, even a cheap one, so we thought we'd give the laundromat a go. That lasted two whole trips, until we decided that our time is quite valuable and we'd rather spend it in other ways and in other places. Another few days of worry ensued, in which I went back and forth between our options without actually picking one, and made a general nuisance of myself. All my boo-hooing must have driven my poor husband to the brink of insanity. In a bold and unexpected move, he decided to bypass our landlord and call the maintenance guy, who has not only always been very helpful, but who thinks our kids are the greatest. You just can't resist that kind of charm.

It turns out there's a secret gathering place where cheap, used electric dryers go to hang out and our maintenance guy has the map. Coolio. Since we won't be taking it with us when we vacate anyway, he said it was no big deal and he'd have us a dryer by Tuesday (this happened Saturday). He was actually apologetic that it would take so long!! I couldn't believe it - this was the best case scenario and he's standing there feeling bad that it'd take three whole days.

Maintenance guys and husbands with whiny wives across the globe: I salute you.

Oh, wait, I'm supposed to share a valuable lesson or something, right? Well, here's the take-home message: don't just sit around worrying about what to do (not that I personally would ever do that). Get to work, ask politely, and maybe good things will come to you.

Now, did any of you really wade through my whole poor-me-my-dryer-broke post? I salute you, as well. The humor will recommence on Thursday.