Mastering her domain

When Suz moved in to her ranch, she felt this thrill of independence and a pride of self-reliance that can only come from doing something on your own for the first time.

Life was a series of new firsts for her. Her first time carrying the mortgage by herself, the first time decorating a home by herself, the first time mucking a stall.

In other words, she had been re-virginized and was back to being the master of her domain. {wink}

As a suddenly single gal over forty, Suz finds she doesn’t always need a man to give her a happy ending. It’s nice, but not always necessary. Sometimes a hand-held tool works just as well, and without all the drama. Take, for example, that time in the shower…

Suz had just spent a whole day in the yard, weeding and mowing and planting oh my. She was quite a dirty girl and began fantasizing about a cool stream of water and a long cold beer. And while the beer lived up to her expectations, the cool stream of water did not. The left handle on the shower broke. Now Suz is not a plumber, but she does know enough to fix her toilet “It’s the ball cock – it’s always the damn ball cock. When you lift it up, it stops whining. When you let the ball drop, it starts bitching all over again.” However, she is not a plumber. She wears her jeans low on her hips granted, but there is no crack a-showing, thus she failed the most basic qualification to be a plumber…

The newly broken shower handle meant she’d have to hire someone to come take care of her, or rather, her shower.

Ordinarily, having been married when situations like these would arise, Suz would get asshat to take care of it. No fuss, no muss on her part. However, being all independent and self-reliant, she decided to think outside the box. Was amazed at what a simple wrench can do. No fuss, no muss. And now the shower works with a twist of the wrist. The beer tasted even better. All by herself, she found a happy-enough ending for the moment.

Alas, all good things must end. She knew she’d have to take of it for real at some point. Not long after, she started dating a nice young man who had an awesome set of tools and his plumber butt was quite nice. Knew how to use them if you know what I mean. And what I mean is that he fixed the shower, and did so without complaint one weekend for her. Afterward, she smiled happily as she turned the handle instead of the wrench, and a long cool stream of water flowed. And she found a real happy ending to her shower saga. Afterward, they drank a beer. And it tasted better than ever.

First times are almost always painful. Sometimes, you regret what you just did. Mostly, you apply what you learned and if you’re really lucky, it’s worth it in the end. Hey that sounds wrong! What I mean is… broken shower handles are a pain in the butt and when you don’t know how to fix it, you may panic and make it worse by stripping the threads or busting a pipe. So you have to choose – try to fix it, try to workaround it, or get some help.

When faced with the pros, cons, and implications of the choices in front of her, Suz chose all three – and then found a handy handyman with a great set of tools and a nice butt.