Keeping Cold Beer in the Fridge
By Jeannine Patané • July 2004

    As soon as I rise from a night’s sleep, I slip my legs into a pair of denim shorts and button them up. There’s white paint on the front of the shorts, and more paint sticks to my thigh from yesterday’s house project. At my bedroom door, a dog with no tail greets me, and an adorable19-month-old child smiles at me as she holds onto the dog’s back. “Sassy?” Lauren is trying to say “Coffee?” and I understand her attempt in communication.
    “Yes, coffee. Let’s go make some coffee for Neen.” I scoop her up and carry her over to the kitchen counter. Lauren is getting to know the routine quite well. It involves grinding the coffee beans, shaking the grounds into a filter, putting water into the machine and turning it on, and then preparing my mug. She helps me shake the sugar packets into the mug, although half of the sugar ends up on the counter. I carry her to the refrigerator to get the milk. She helps me pour some milk into the mug.
    “Boon?” Lauren is asking for a spoon, which I pull out of the drawer. She takes it from my hand to stir the milk and sugar around. She and I have developed a routine since I moved in with her family. This is what I enjoy about being a traveling handywoman; I take interest to live other people’s lifestyle for a period of time, and develop great relationships.
    It is easy to live with my current client because I already know Lesley as a childhood friend. She suggested I help with some of her home projects in San Diego, and I jumped at the chance to travel outside of Alaska to work in a warm location for a while. Her family could provide meals and a room for me. Lesley’s husband, Keith, had all the tools I would need for their projects, and they could keep me busy for at least a month. I packed my car and left Alaska to join them.
    Lesley’s family consists of Keith, Lauren and a large dog named Codi. There’s also the two Betta fish; one is red and the other is navy blue. When I’m not working on the house, I often spend time taking care of Lauren and Codi. I have quickly become familiar with routines and individual likes and dislikes.
    Lauren loves grapes for meals and milk before naps. Her mom taught her sign language before she could speak; many words are communicated with hand movement. She cringes her nose and smiles at you just before she does something defiant, and she can do more damage to the flowerbed than the dog.
    Codi is a ball addict. He is trained not to leave the sidewalk in front of the house, even if he’s chasing a ball. He associates a dog toy with every person, and brings that certain toy out for the person when they come over to visit. Lesley and Keith also demonstrate their habits. I absorb everything that is interesting and unfamiliar to me.
    “It’s a thing my old roommate got me in the habit to do,” Lesley says to me as she loads the dishwasher, “Start by putting things in the far right corner, and you’ll know the dishwasher is full when the last things are placed in the near left corner.” I understand her logic and easily remember to load dirty dishware in the order she instructs. Keith has his own techniques as well. He likes to rank the complexity of house projects by how much beer we need to consume. The more frustrating and time-consuming a project is, the more cold beer is needed. Since refrigerator space is limited, we have to stock the fridge a few beers at a time. I take on the task of maintaining stock in the fridge. Small considerations go a long way when living with other people.
    My job duties change with every client, and everyone has their own approach to certain tasks. I find it’s fascinating to learn these approaches. Being able to see and appreciate the different ways of doing things tells me that I’m open and willing to learn, and our attitude is especially contagious when we live with other people. When I first arrived, Lesley had no desire to do larger home improvement projects. Now she expresses interest to help Keith replace the kitchen cabinet doors. I entertain Lauren with coffee-making lessons and throw a ball for Codi while Lesley remodels the kitchen with Keith. It’s all in a day’s work as we all learn and live together.