Yesterday around 11am, my wife took a break from her busy work schedule to make herself some coffee, and while she was in the kitchen she discovered that our garbage disposal was no longer working. I was at a point in my work day where I could not take a break and properly address the situation, so I reflexively said that we should call maintenance to come fix it. At that point, I looked up and my wife looked at me, and we realized we had a bit of a quandary on our hands.

No one but my son, my wife and me have set foot in this apartment since mid-February, and if we allowed the maintenance man to stroll in here, we could possibly be at risk for infection, and it would nullify all this good quarantine behavior we've been practicing. In fact, just two weeks ago when my internet and cable went out, and the over-the-phone troubleshooting was crashing and burning, we faced this same challenge, and I already decided that I was going to have to let Comcast in here because a)We need internet service in order to work from home and b) As sad as this is to admit, ain't no way in the world, we'd be able to remain sane with no television/streaming options. Luckily for me, the cable magically starting working just one hour before the technician was scheduled to arrive---crisis averted.

A broken garbage disposal is not nearly as urgent as no cable/internet, but it still has the potential to make things uncomfortable and malodorous in the apartment, so clearly something had to be done. My wife decided to email the apartment complex to see if one of the maintenance men could possibly walk us through some troubleshooting tips over the phone. After that, we both resumed our respective work days.

Fast forward a couple of hours, and I was on the couch sipping wine and watching my son eat dinner, and I heard my wife fiddling around in the kitchen. I had already forgotten about the damn disposal, but my wife had not. In fact, she had already YouTubed some garbage disposal troubleshooting tips, and was walking herself through solutions. I got up, walked in the kitchen, and saw her churning a wooden spoon in the disposal trying to loosen the blades, and about 30 seconds later, I turned on the disposal and it worked. Yet another crisis averted.

Now if I were to allow myself to fall victim to the antiquated, traditional gender roles we allegedly have in this country (and beyond), I would emasculated by my wife's initiative--especially since I was chillin' and drinking wine when this all went down. But that's not at all the case. We are a team, and we are ensconced in a pandemic that has forced each of us in situations we normally would avoid or just not be in altogether. So I'm glad she bailed us out....I owe her one and I'm proud of her.