The Repairman

We've had carpet issues in our basement for a while. The issues have stemmed from the water issues we've had in our basement. Issues such as every spring and summer when we get lots and lots of rain then our window well will fill up and flood the basement. This leads to such delightful tasks as pulling up the carpet and drying it and the pad out. This has happened on multiple occasions. Clark has tried several times to stretch and tack the carpet back down but it just hasn't gone over very successfully.

For those of you who don't know Clark, he is the typical do-it-yourself-handyman. I love that about him. There is never a task too large or daunting that he isn't willing to take on. However, like the typical do-it-yourself-handyman he shuns the idea of bringing in professionals. It's a blow to his ego.

Well, the carpet just wasn't stretching and tacking the way we wanted to. And duck tape wasn't looking like an attractive option if we ever want to sell the house. So we brought in a professional. We found someone in Madison who's a member of our church who was willing to come over and fix our problem for a very reasonable price. He came over early this morning. We were all eating breakfast upstairs as we heard him working on the carpet. Clark at one point said to me, "It feels strange to me to be sitting up here while he's working. I just feel weird to not be doing anything." I tried to validate how he felt but then emphasized that Clark had tried and that we were paying him.

Shortly thereafter, the work was finished and Clark was saying good-bye to our professional. They had a quick conversation about the job. Clark then said, "Yeah, I tried to do it myself. I used a knee-kicker but I just couldn't get it to stretch." What I think Clark found immensely comforting is when the professional explained the he also tried a knee-kicker but then ended up having to use a different power tool. Clark's manhood remained intact. It makes me wonder, if this professional also knew that he had to repair an ego as well.