My Husband, The Handyman

Right now, I’m sitting in the house writing and my husband is outside mowing the lawn. It’s been six months since our wedding and I am really enjoying calling him “my husband”. I still say sometimes: “I can’t believe we’re married!” and I mean that in a good way.

He’s like one of those husbands on TV…well the good type not the “Everybody Loves Raymond” type…he does all the stereotypical husband things like takes care of the lawn, take out the trash and build stuff!

My dad wasn’t the manual labor type at all. He wasn’t lazy in any sense of the word, but he would much rather buy something than build it. He always said his time saved was worth more than any amount money he would spend paying someone to do it for him.

My husband is the complete opposite in this regard. He loves building things! It’s something I never really valued in a man because I didn’t know any better. I’ve never known anyone to put this much manual labor into their life for fun. Now, I think it’s one of the best things about him.

A few days after our wedding, we went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and I wanted a pot rack to hang our pots. When we spotted one in the store, he took one look at it and said “I can build that.”

This is the one in the store:

Bed Bath &Beyond Calphalon Wall Bar Pot Rack

And this is what he built:

I first noticed his handiness when I was living in my old apartment. My television was against one wall and the outlet was against another. I had a bathroom in my room and I had jump over the cord in order to get to it. I jumped over that cord for weeks until one day, my husband re-arranged a few things, changed how the cords were connecting (cable cords, television, outlets), added an extension cord and neatly placed it all so I didn’t have to jump over the cord anymore. I was amazed! I wish I had a picture of what it was and what he did.

Just the other day, I mentioned that I had a sorority license plate I wanted to put on my car, but Ohio drivers are required to have a license plate on the front and on the back. I’ve had that plate for like five years sitting in my trunk still in the bag I bought it in. He went out to our garage, got the plate out of my trunk and magically connected it to the bottom of my license plate.

I wasn’t surprised by his handiness. The first week we started dating, he helped me put together all of this IKEA furniture I’d bought (and if you’ve ever bought anything from IKEA then you know how much work it is).

At this point, the things I mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how handy this man is. I am so grateful. He has built and fixed so many things for me, it’s unbelievable. I’m used to things breaking,  tossing them in the trash then just buying another one (thanks Dad!), but my husband is like “I’ll fix it.” And he does! How awesome is that? To be honest, in the beginning I was pretty skeptical when he would say he could build this or fix that, but now I’m a believer. A very thankful believer.

Are there any qualities in your significant other that you’ve come to appreciate, despite not knowing its value before?