In keeping with the theme of my year (The Year That Everything Broke), I have to say, I am so very, very grateful for people who can fix things.
My mechanic tops this list. If you live in Provo or Orem and you don’t take your car to Computune on Bulldog, you are doing it wrong. These guys are fantastic. They’ve often taken a look at whatever I think is wrong with my car, and told me it’s nothing, don’t bother spending the money. Other times they’ve fixed small problems for under ten dollars, or for free. All this means that when they say a fix is necessary and going to cost my $700, I know they are telling the truth. They’ll even shop around for the parts for me, trying to get me a better deal. They’re always on time, and if a project goes wrong, they often foot the bill for the problems, to avoid going over their original estimates. I seriously love these guys. As long as they’re there, I won’t buy a car they won’t work on. (If said car exists. I haven’t had an occasion to ask, yet.)
Also on this list is my doctor. I’ve been something of a mystery patient over the last several years, but my doctor doesn’t give up on me. He doesn’t tell me it’s all in my head. He’s always got a new idea to try. He listens to me and then explains things in words I can understand, but that don’t patronize, either. And he’s discovered all kinds of awesome things, like that I’ve had a vitamin D deficiency that makes me tired. I’ve been taking supplements for the last six months, and not only am I much less tired, but I’m also looking forward to winter instead of dreading it. This is nothing short of a miracle.
Then there’s the endless list of service people who’ve fixed our dishwasher, or shown us how to winterize our sprinklers, or replaced the mechanism on the garage door, or fixed our furnace. Some things we can fix on our own, but other things I’m very, very glad that I can call other people to fix for me. It makes my life better and easier, and is worth the money I have to spend to save us the time and stress and future breakages that would result in trying to fix everything ourselves.