2️⃣094: The Fixer 👩‍🔧

Good morning, babe 😍 

Good morning, my love 🤩

😏👀☺️🥰

😂🤣

You know this is toxic, right? No married couple speaks to each other like this. Anyone who's ever lived with someone before knows you wake up in the morning and don't even say hi to each other.

Oh, really? So what do you do instead?

The only thing on everyone's mind is who's going to use the bathroom first 🛁

Sweetie, you don't have to worry about things like that 😊 Because I'm always using the bathroom first 😛

I'm serious!

About what?

The talking.

What about the talking?

Married couples don't actually talk to each other like that!

What if we're the exception? 

Everyone thinks they're the exception. 

Yeah, but what if we are? 

Then maybe we are ☺️

Really? 🥹 

Of course not 😑 Now, get your smelly pits in the shower before you make our son lose his breakfast appetite and ruin our entire day.

Mmmmm, I thought you were being romantic, but you know I love it even more when you boss me around 😍🥵😈🫠

Get. In. The. Shower. !!

Fiiiine, but only if you come in with me 😏

I'm going to make breakfast. Someone needs to be responsible around here. I can already hear Jameer's stomach growling. I'm not taking any chances with that boy 🍳

This is exactly how I always pictured my Mondays as an adult when I dreamt of falling in love and starting a family.

Imagine, if we had never met, you'd never be this happy 😘

Weren't you going to make breakfast?

Like the matriarch that I am.

😯🙄

😏

Babe! The bathroom sink is doing that thing again!

I'll fix it when I get home from work!

What would I do without you????

Have a leaky faucet 💦

Good morning, babe 😍

Good morning, my love 🤩 Thank you for fixing the drip yesterday, even though you got home late. You have no idea how amazing it feels to have someone like you around the house. I love you, Saraí.

Saraí had always been good at fixing things. She didn't remember when it started or how it started. She always had a sense of why things were wrong and what needed to be done. When she was seven, she fixed the satellite dish and television in her foster home that hadn't worked in months. Most of the children in the house were happy to finally be able to watch cartoons, but her guardians were not. They thought it was a distraction from all the chores that needed to get done. They would’ve preferred to leave it broken.

They also weren't enthused that Saraí had climbed up on the roof and hung over one side of the shingles to "tighten up some screws," as she described it. Saraí didn't think it was that big of a deal, climbing on the roof of a three-story house. Weren't kids supposed to do crazy things like that? Plus, she had a good reason: everyone wanted to watch TV!

She made sure it was safe by securing a rope around her waist with a Constrictor knot and throwing it over the other side to hold her in place. The rope was long enough that it made it over the roof all the way to the ground on the other side with plenty of slack for the rest of her siblings to pull on and keep her hoisted.

It was like a tug-of-war, except Saraí wanted to be on the losing end.

She tied the other end of the rope to Gump with the same Constrictor knot. Gump was 14 years old. He was the oldest sibling (and the heaviest) and was supposed to be the one who kept order. As much order as a teenager in charge of eight other kids can muster when he's known for holding up both his hands in front of his face to figure out which way is left and which is right 🙌

The way Saraí saw it, it was a quick in and out (or up and over, however you prefer to describe it). As an insurance policy, Saraí told Gump to lie down, cover himself in blankets and some heavy pillows, and had all the other siblings lie on top of him to help weigh him down.

But, not all the siblings chose to participate. Mary Lou didn't think it was a good idea.

Maybe there's a good reason the TV isn't working! Mary Lou screeched at Saraí.

You're right, Mary Lou.

I am? 🧐😄

Yes, you are. The TV isn't working for a reason, and that reason is this piece of electrical tape I found unnecessarily placed over one of the ports and the satellite dish probably pointing in the wrong direction. That's why I need to get on the roof to recalibrate its longitudinal axis and make sure it's aligned with the other satellite dishes in orbit to receive a signal. It's an easy fix 🛠

😑 Has anyone ever told you that just because you can read better than anyone else here, even though you're the smallest one, doesn't mean you get to be mean to others using big words?

Yes, Mary Lou, you tell me that every time we talk. It's starting to feel like you just don't know enough words. If you want, we can sit and read the dictionary together sometime. That's the big book with all the words that tells you what they mean. You've heard of it, right?

That's all it took for the waterworks to start 😭 Three minutes? A new record, Saraí thought to herself (she'd never made her cry in less than five). This was the opening she was looking for. With Mary Lou tucked away giving her favorite stuffed animal an aquatic makeover, Saraí could rally the troops to help her get on the roof.

She knew the risk would be worth it once she—

AAAAAAAAA OMG MY EYE!!!!!! The blood-curdling scream snapped Saraí out of her memories and back to reality. Baby, is everything okay?!?!?! HEELLPPPP! IT EXPLODED—MY EYE. SARAIIIIIIIII PLEASEEE!!!! Saraí rushed up the stairs five at a time. She made it to the top and turned left, sprinting down the hallway towards the master bedroom. She walked in to what looked like a crime scene. Elandra was curled up in a corner, screaming, holding one hand over her eye as blood gushed through her fingers all over her nightgown. The amount of blood almost distracted her from everything else going on. But she quickly snapped to attention.

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