Do your grown children bring you items to fix?
"You can fix anything," my daughter Claire says. The pressure.
On Saturday, Claire arrived from the Seattle area. We went on a hour-long walk along the Columbia River riverfront trail. A beautiful, sunny day. It's easy to talk when you're enjoying nature.
As usual, Claire brought me something to fix. The strap of her sandal had come out. "Give me both sandals so I can see the proper strap angle and position," I said.
Yesterday while going through an automatic car wash, I idly turned the sandals over in my hands. Discovered the glue had failed, separating the insole from the bottom. With both sandals. Here we go. I love a challenge.
First I glued and clamped the sandals together. Let it dry. Step 2: sewed the straps to the insole and bottom. With difficulty, pushed the needle through three layers of leather. Also through glue. Used a thimble to push the needle and a hemostat to pull it. Bent and ruined one needle. No biggie.
Unfortunately, got glue on my hands and then a bit on the sandals. Could not scrape it off. Used a black Sharpie to darken glue on the black suede.
Sewed the straps securely on both sides. Sent Claire home with healthy, delicious snacks as I always do.
My mother's work is done for the weekend.
13
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11 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I use to when they were younger but now with familys they do not any more,,I always love the challenge of fixing something,,sometimes the challenge just to get an item apart as they are made not to fix any more and then putting it back together ,I find it is really good exercise for the brain ,paying attention,reverse engineering and find a piece of something to craft and fit to do the job and then put it all back together,,Repair and reuse ,even though sometimes i would like to buy something else ,Very Happy you enjoy using your skills for this,just wish more women would as they certainly have the knowledge
RoyMillar
Level 9
June 7, 2020
1
Looks like you did a great job.
My kids don't usually bring me things to fix, but sometimes. What I share with them mostly is that we collect adapters, power supplies, connecting cords, etc. This way if I need one I go to my kids and they also come to me. I think this all started back in the days when all phone chargers were different. Now we all have boxes of computer cords and adapters and so forth.
DenoPenno
Level 9
May 25, 2020
1
I've lost count of the number of repair jobs I did for my daughter, everything from fixing broken toys to actually re-modeling her bedroom and more.
Then when she was about 6 yrs old she discovered that she liked doing things I was doing as well so that's when I started teaching how to select the right tool for the job, how to measure things correctly and even how use an Arc Welder.
She could be the very example of a young lady WHEN she wanted to be, but getting down and getting her hands dirty, dressing like me in a cut to size pair of Boilermaker's overalls, etc, and she was in paradise almost.
Triphid
Level 9
May 25, 2020
1
How wonderful! It's bonding to do things together.
Good for you for teaching her how to do home-repairs.
@LiterateHiker Thank you, but I also taught her how to use, etc, my old bolt actio .22 rifle to shoot rabbits, etc, when we went camping together.
One particular time I'll never forget is when were hunting kangaroo for the Property Owner to use as food for his working dogs.
This huge male Red Kangaroo was standing up under a tree some distance away and she yeelled to me to stop the car.
I looked and just said, " You'll never hit it at that distance, Lorrae, it's got to be at least 200 yards away."
She just gave me this 'knowing' smile of hers, climbed quietly out of the car, lay down on the ground, tossed a bit of dirt into the air, took aim and fired, the 'roo seemed to ignore everything and then just tumbled over.
We then drove over using the trip meter as a measurer, .175 of kilometre later there was the 'roo, shot cleanly through the head and as dead as Julius Caesar.
When a 10 year old looks at you and simply says, " Never say never," it kind of humble one.
wow that was quite the shot,bravo
@RoyMillar Your telling me it was.
I trained her the same way Dad did with me.
Caps off of drink bottles, set out on posts or trees at spacings of spacings of 20 yards between each one, over a total distance of approx. 180 yards, open sights ( no scope) and you had to hit each one as close to dead centre as possible each time from the Standing, Sitting and Prone positions, 1 bullet per bottle cap per position.
It wasn't a simple thing to do by any means but my intent was to ensure that she could survive by hunting for food if she became stranded in the Aussie Outback.
Your father taught you well as you passed that knowledge and skill on to Claire .Your one of a kind ,an all around mom and mentor
My daughter saves things up for me to fix whenever I visit her from Spain.
Small fixing jobs she does herself, but the tricky ones she accumulates. (My son in law is a world class computer software man, but has difficulty deciding which end of a screwdriver to hold.)
Petter
Level 9
May 25, 2020
1
Yes, and I love it. My daughter and stepdaughters ask me frequently to fix something or make something for them and I wouldn't want it any other way. Oh and it's not just me. My wife is an excellent seamstress, and she gets lots of requests to fix things too.
Eazyduzzit
Level 7
May 25, 2020
1
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