I’d been washing dishes by hand for a week and hated it. My dishwasher is old, possibly ancient. It came with the house and, although a bit noisy, was otherwise fine. Now the cups cling to their tea stains and flecks of dried food decorate the plates.
The dishwasher was too old to call a repairman. That left two choices: fix it myself or buy a new one. A friend suggested I check the filter and after thinking it over, I decided to give it a go. After all, everyone said it was easy. I decided to dedicate one hour to the project.
YouTube introduced me to a variety of dishwasher tutorials. Of course, none featured a vintage machine like mine. Taking out the bottom rack was easy. But no matter how hard I pressed, pulled and tugged, getting anything else to budge was impossible.
Then I recalled being surprised by how much force repair people use. I gripped part of the apparatus and heaved. To my delight, one piece and then the others popped loose.
It was no surprise to find nasty looking stuff in the filter. But I was baffled by what looked like shreds of purple fabric and a long, slender piece of plastic. Not my doing, I swear!
After cleaning the removable pieces and carefully prodding various holes inside the machine, I was ready to put everything back together. There was only one problem. I distinctly remembered removing three pieces from the dishwasher but there were four on the floor. And none seemed to fit anywhere.
I tried inserting one piece and then another and then putting them together in various ways. It was like working on a jigsaw puzzle rated Extremely Difficult. Exasperated, I flung the largest piece into the dishwasher. To my amazement, it settled into place.
That gave me hope. Glancing at the clock, I saw I had ten minutes left. “Where are you, Dad?” I muttered as I attempted to join the remaining pieces together. My dad was an engineer. When I was young, I was convinced he could fix anything.
Even though he’s been gone for decades, Dad’s spirit must have guided my hands. I suddenly flipped everything upside down and each piece settled into place.
I fixed my dishwasher in 59 minutes, and a test run produced sparkling clean dishes.
So what does this have to do with writing? Or anything in life?
#1. I set a clear goal with a time limit
Task completed within a certain period. No wandering off to watch hummingbirds or check email.
#2. When something doesn’t work, try harder
Even though I was frustrated, I didn’t give up.
#3. When all else fails, try a bizarre approach
Throwing a part into the dishwasher and having it land in the right place was a miracle. But that small success encouraged me to look at the rest of the problem in different ways.
#4. Ask for help
Help can come from a variety of places including friends, mentors, Google and YouTube videos. And sometimes just knowing your dad would be there for you if he could, is enough.
I’ve known these tips for decades. But as so often happens, I’d let them fade into some obscure part of my brain. Now they’re on a yellow sticky note beside my computer.
Illustration by Elena Istomino