The Sock-Eating Dryer and other Hero Tales Starring the Fixin' Daddy

        My Dad could fix just about anything, at least in my mind. When something broke we didn't throw it away; we took it to Daddy and he fixed it. Daddy went to the dump, brought home stuff that others tossed, and fixed it. Daddy bought old cars and made them run again. My brothers in turn learned how to fix things. So when it came time for me to think about marriage and what qualities were important to me in a man, I knew I wanted someone who could be a "fixin' Daddy" like mine had been. There were other, more important things on my mental list, but a man who couldn't fix things, to me, would have been a bit disappointing.
        About a week after Erik and I started courting, his truck (conveniently) broke down at my parents house, which meant he had to spend a lot of time there working on it. (I didn't mind a bit!) Not too much later he replaced the shocks on my car. Not only was I impressed, but my Dad was more than ready to pass the fixin' torch on to the next generation when it came to my old car! Several months later we were married and I knew I'd found my very own Fixin' man. It's a good thing too, because it seems there's always a lot of things that need fixin' around here.
        Just last week Peregrine and Alethea were unloading the dryer for me. I took the lint filter out to clean, and they happily dropped a tiny sock down into it. Peregrine pointed it out to me and I told him Daddy would know how to get it out. I stupidly decided to dry the last load of clothes, thinking the sock would get sucked up toward the filter. Well, of course I was mistaken, and the sock instead got sucked down to the innards of the dryer. And the dryer died. Fixin' Daddy to the rescue!!! Erik, with his (not-always-so-helpful) helper Peregrine pulled the dryer out, took it apart, and got it working again. But the funny thing is, they never found the sock!
        I'm thankful for a wonderful husband who, even when he'd rather be doing other things, is able to fix the things that break around here. Peregrine watches and is learning, and someday he'll be a fixin' Daddy too. He likes to handle the tools and get involved in Erik's projects as much as he can. Just the other day he said to me "Dad is really clever." Yes, he is really clever, my fixin' man!