Dear Old Dad, The Old Man Next Door

In debt to my neighbor. We, my partner and I bought a house. An older home but in a promising close in neighborhood. We get a leak, my partner is out at the mailbox and she runs into our neighbor an comments on it. Next thing we know he is in our attic, after turning the water off at the main which we didn't know to do. He crawls out of the attic, stomps around and says he'll be back, he's going to Home Depot.

I ask to go, I want to learn. In, straight to the plumbing section, pvc pipe, elbow, some of that glue, other stuff, 1, 2, 3 and to the checkout, not in the store more than 5 minutes. Back at the house, back up into the attic, he carries his hack saw (I learned that) up and he comes down with the 'cracked' elbow and pipe and bing, bang, boom he turns on the water, everything is tight and see you later alligator, he's gone.

He teaches me nothing.

And so it goes. He installed our new dishwasher, took my car in for new tires, gave us a homeowners quick guide, which basically said call him. Don't get me wrong, we appreciate it. But I want to learn. But none of this is lady stuff. His only allowed our thank you of baking him some cookies. For Thanksgiving we are invited to his house. Help the wife cook. He calls us 'the girls', I'm 'sweet cheeks', my partner is 'baby'. His girls will be there, with their kids.

His wife tells us lucky he likes us, he didn't like the old neighbors. And oh, he noticed that the flashing around our chimney needs to be secured but not to worry, he'll fix it. We have a name for him too 'dear old Dad'. When my partner and I get married he'll be the one to walk us down the isle, you just watch, it'll be him.