Some Talents Are Just Not Appreciated

I don't know if it's really a gender thing or not, but in my opinion, some traits are inherently male and some are female. I'm not talking about traditional family roles. I know not all domestic chores fall into rigid categories; some men do the cooking and some women do the yardwork. I'm talking about the different traits and talents each gender possesses.

For example, I think women pay attention to details. You know, the little things that most men miss. I know in our family, I'm the one who's more likely to catch something that's just not quite right; and that talent, my friends, isn't always appreciated. Since the subtle things I notice tend to herald an upcoming MAJOR HOME REPAIR, I can understand Roger's feelings of dread when he hears the latest of my observations.

The bad smell in the den? Turns out it was a dead rat in the attic. The wet floorboard in the new car? A leaky a/c valve. Hot floor tiles and less hot water? Means another hot water leak.

Like it or not, it's my job to notice these subtle little things that signal Trouble in Paradise for the Proza family. I like to think I'm not alone in this...surely I'm not the only woman in the world who breaks the bad news of possible repairmen expense to her husband with the phrase, "Now, I know this is gonna tick you off, but..."

Our latest foray into home repair was in the form of another slab leak. Sound familiar? It should, that's our third leak this year, but who's counting? The plumber and our insurance company, I'd guess.

You know it's bad when you call your plumber, give your name, a brief description of the problem, and the first words out of his mouth are, "AGAIN? Where is it THIS TIME?" No need to consult the files - we're a household name around there - I'll bet we even made the Christmas Card list, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn there was a pool going about where the NEXT leak will show up. After all, SOMEBODY should be enjoying this, shouldn't they?

Two plumbers showed up at the house and began their search for our latest pipe failure. They were having trouble narrowing it down, until I told them about hearing a noise that sounded like running water in our master bath the other morning. (I just want to go on record here and say that I told Roger about the noise. He didn't hear it, of course, and couldn't find any sign of a leak. But, how hard do we think he looked?)

The plumbers, who obviously have wives who make astute observations, too, immediately began looking in the rear part of the house, mainly the patio room, and asked me for my help. Ha! At last - men who APPRECIATE the fine art of paying attention to detail.

Before long, the plumbers and I were crawling around on the floor, feeling for the warmest spot and listening for the leak with some high-tech plumbing equipment. Mainly, a stethoscope with plastic tubing attached to two high powered microphones, which were placed on the suspected leak area.

After several minutes, I told the plumbers where I thought the leak originated, they marked the spot with a piece of duct tape and the next day a crew came and jack hammered up the slab and repaired the leak.

Now, I don't mean to brag or drive home the point unnecessarily, but the leaky pipe? After jack hammering up the slab, the plumber reported the leak was within 3 inches of the place I'd told them it was.

Like it or not, SOME talents should be appreciated.