...by calling every boy they know to help them.
Once upon a time, I was walking in my dining room (ok, room is a bit of an exaggeration - dining area) and I noticed water on the floor. "Did you spill something?" I asked my roommate.
"I noticed some water on the floor earlier."
"Now there's a big puddle!" It actually filled four of our big tiles on the floor. So we covered the floor with towels and tried to find a leak - to no avail. I went to my new neighbor's house and knocked on the door. He asked who it was and I replied, "Your neighbor, Brenda," He opened the door and I explained that we had a flood. He showed me some water that had spilled in his place, but didn't know how it would lead to ours. Basically he was saying, "Not my problem, Chica." (only he was much nicer than that and probably wouldn't have called me Chica since he spoke Korean)
So I went home and Julie and I continued putting towels on the ground by a wall that contained no pipes. I went back over to Jimmy's house a couple days later and tried to explain again. "Maybe it's your refrigerator?" "No," he replied. I had no comeback so I went home.
"This is why we need husbands," Julie declared. No, I thought, we are modern women and we are intelligent women, we can handle this. So I did what every modern woman does: I called some men in my family and asked them to help. Cody and Paul came over (along with Cody's girlfriend, Buffy) and helped.
Cody cut holes in the wall looking for the source of the leak and after a long time, discovered that it was from Jimmy's new refrigerator. Paul and Cody walked over with me, standing like goons behind me, while I tried to explain once again. "No, it's not my leak," Jimmy replied and even though I now knew it was from his house (I saw the leak myself) I still felt like caving in. But Paul and Cody politely and clearly explained what was going on and only an hour later or so the whole thing was fixed. Fixed except for the holes in the wall that Cody will fix after the fans have finished blowing and drying the wet wood.
But sadly, that was not all. For the pipe still has a slight leak. It has been slowly dripping for weeks and filling the bowl that I put under the leak. I've been dumping the bowl every couple of days and putting it back, because that is easier to me than facing poor Jimmy again.
Well, today was my day to grow. I went, with Julie, over to Jimmy's house and told him that there was still a leak. He pulled away his fridge and checked, "You're right," he replied. HALLELUJAH! He said he would fix it. A few minutes later he came over to check and it seemed better. "I'm sorry, your brother said that it was all right so I thought it was all right." I could see the fear of my two goons in his eyes. "No problem, Jimmy. Thanks for fixing it. I'll let you know if it's still leaking." He sighed with relief and left.
So here is what I've learned from this life lesson: Neighbors are great and I love meeting them (ok, I knew this about myself already)
Cody and Paul are such handy brothers to have. They can fix anything and can be bold for me when I have failed.
My courage has limits, very easy to meet limits. And I am trying to stretch them by being more assertive, as long as my assertions don't make anyone unhappy.
Owning a home can be scary, especially when you're clueless about how to handle any problems.
I must always keep good friendships with handy people.
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