Last weekend Kylie's mom and dad drove into town for the long holiday weekend all the way from Indiana. They made the trip down to see the new house and Kylie and her mom spent much of the weekend shopping for wedding day things while her dad schooled me in home improvement projects.

How is it that I'm in my mid-30's I have the aptitude of a 9 year-old when it comes to fixing things around the house? I can hear Kylie now... Nine year old?? Try 5 year old.. Sad, but true. I don't get it. I thought it's pretty much an unwritten rule that a man should know the difference between a scroll saw and a a mitre saw before earning the right to be, well, a man. I haven't met a dad yet that couldn't fix a dripping faucet in MacGyver style with nothing more than a string, a piece of gum, and his bare hands... and the gum's just for his chewing pleasure while he's fixing the faucet... with one hand... blindfolded. Then there's me. What's more baffling is that my dad did contract remodeling/home improvement work for several years, and I'd be hard pressed to find anything he couldn't fix or build. Apparently I was absent the day/month/years those skills were supposed to be magically downloaded from father to son. Guess I thought I could just pick up his craft through osmosis or that I simply inherited them with no effort needed on my part. How boldly naive I was. Garry (Kylie's dad), in traditional dad fashion, is also a handy man's man. So most of the weekend we spent fixing - and when I say "we spent fixing" I mean Garry did the fixing while I held the tools and watched - the laundry list of things Kylie and I had on our fix-it list.

On a related note, I also learned that apparently if you hammer crooked nails - the one thing I found I'm very good at - it means something. Thanks for enlightening me, Garry. Hopefully I'll be able to pass on that nugget of knowledge to my son(s) someday. Thanks so much, Garry and Tina, for making the trip to Dallas and for all your help The weekend went by waaay too fast, but both Kylie and I were glad we got to spend a little time with you, and we look forward to seeing you again in a couple months in Indiana!!