There's Never a Skyhook When You Need One

Dear John,

 

I took another step today - actually several steps, and very unpleasant ones. I got out the extension ladder and went crawling around on the roof. And you know how afraid of heights I am - I don't even like standing on a chair. But there I was, hammer in my hand and roofing nails in my pocket, crawling around on my hands and knees on the roof.

 

Yesterday DeWayne and I were talking in the street, and we noticed that I have a shingle missing. He thought he saw it a few feet over from where it's supposed to be. So, in an attempt to be a responsible adult, I went up to try to fix it. It turns out that what we saw wasn't the missing shingle, but another place where one is missing. We have two missing shingles.

 

The whole thing was unduly challenging. First I had to get the extension ladder down off the wall in the garage, which required bench-pressing it over my head. Then I carried it to the front yard and had to figure out how to work it. I got up it okay, but when I got to the point of having to climb over the top of the ladder and get onto the roof, I froze for a bit. But pride overcame terror - I couldn't bear the thought of getting stuck up there and having to have somebody call the fire department to bring a cherry picker to get me off my own roof - and in a small town, too, with a volunteer fire department. Unbearable. So I climbed over the top of the ladder. I crawled around the roof - couldn't bring myself to stand up - realized that I couldn't fix it, then had to do the whole thing in reverse. So I went backwards over the top of the ladder. From there it was easy, just climbing down the ladder. The I did the bench-pressing routine again in the garage. And I came inside and threw up.

 

Bob is going to rescue me, bless his sweet heart. He's done roofing before. And he's a sensible creature, and won't need to be rescued by a skyhook. They're so good to me. Or maybe they don't want the embarrassment of having a neighbor having to call the volunteer fire department to get me down off of my own roof.

 

See what you're missing? See what a big girl I am? I couldn't fix it, but I think it's quite an accomplishment to have gotten up there and checked it out. I love being able to stay here in our house. But I have to admit that there are times I think wistfully about renting!

 

Love you so much,

Joan.