I was not always Aunt Toby. I grew up in a little town, two blocks from my elementary school. My dad’s idea of gardening was buying a bag of Scotts™ Turf-builder. He was an enthusiastic but largely ham-fisted plumber, electrician, bricklayer (we had brick steps), fixer of small engines and painter on weekends. He was a great doctor and utterly fearless about doing stuff with his hands.

His doctor colleagues considered him a complete nut. Why DIY (and pretty poorly at that) when you can purchase someone else’s skills? My dad was the Sir Edmund Hillary of DIY: Because it’s there.

I think there are a lot of people out there who would do more for themselves except that they are afraid. Afraid to screw it up. Afraid to waste money and not finish. Afraid that they’ll finish and someone will come along and tell them it looks like crap. Afraid that when they finish, THEY’LL think it looks like crap. Afraid they’ll either hurt themselves or someone else. Afraid they’ll violate the warranty on something if they open up the back and try to fix something.

I grew up handing my father tools when he was under the sink and being shown the insides of a fuse box. My favorite books in my early years were – everything written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, the patron saint (if there ever was one) of showing you how it used to be done. Almost everything I ever wanted to learn was based on something I read about in those books: gardening, sewing, raising livestock, cooking, preserving. There was actually a lot of stuff NOT covered in those books (but I think it had to do with when they were written and what the editors would allow) – outhouses, for one. Not one word about how to dig a pit for an outhouse and how to build one. Nope. Not one word.

But I digress.

I’m going to bet that in 80% of the homes in America, there are tools in the basement or closet that no one in the house has the foggiest idea how to use. They may as well have a bag of rocks as tools. If I have any plea to make, it’s this: if you know how to do something, whatever it is, reach out to some kid, teenager, or young adult and teach them how to do it. Don’t ASK them if they want to learn how to do it. No one wants to learn how to pull a toilet off the floor and replace the wax seal. But being dragooned into doing it and finding out it’s not such a big deal is the first step to realizing that there are a lot of things out there that we can do for ourselves, if only someone would show us how.

Don’t just call the damn plumber and watch him or her disappear down the basement steps then go your merry way. Go down with that person, hold the trouble light, ask a bunch of nosy and annoying questions and ask to be shown. Everyone loves to think that someone feels that what they do is important and fascinating. No one is going to refuse you.

And you might just learn enough to fix the little problem yourself without having to call the plumber the next time.

What are things that YOU wish you knew how to do if only someone would show you?

What are things that YOU know how to do that you could show someone else how to do?

Pull up a chair…

(photo courtesy of katiew)