Watch out for the MacGyvers of the world. I was lucky enough to meet mine when I was 13 years old. By the time I was 16, he was already under the hood changing the oil in my car. He’s one of those people who can just look at something and figure out how to fix it — no manual, no video tutorial, just instinct.
The pic above was him figuring out we could dig out under so we didn’t die by refridgerator lol.
Over the years, I’ve realized there are a lot of these people out there — you just don’t always recognize them right away. They’re the ones who can glance at something and know what’s wrong, who take things apart without knowing exactly how they’ll put them back together but somehow make it work anyway. I’ve met them from 16 to 60, and I swear, these are the people who are going to fix our world.
My MacGyver got his name early in our 27 year marriage. We were on a road trip when my brand-new Dodge Durango broke down — one of those common heating coil issues. He knew exactly what it was and, no joke, fixed it with a Band-Aid and a pair of toenail clippers. From that day on, the nickname MacGyver stuck.
He’s been fixing things ever since — cars, boats, trailers, motorcycles, lawnmowers — you name it. He was a helicopter mechanic in the Marines, worked for a brake company, and has always had that knack for problem-solving that you can’t teach. Now he fixes networks.
And honestly, I think we need to celebrate people like that more often. The ones who don’t wait for instructions — they just figure it out. The ones who see a problem and grab whatever’s around to make it work. In a world where so much gets thrown away and replaced, MacGyvers remind us that things — and people — are worth fixing.
Encourage them. Let them tinker. Give them space to take stuff apart. When my son was little we found him old TVs, radios, and anything else we could find for him to take apart and try to fix. He actually doesn’t have the built in ability to fix things like hubby but he does have the love of it and the desire to learn. Even if you aren’t born with it – you can learn to do a lot. He is 19 and can change his oil, brakes, and works as an electrician. We couldn’t be prouder and we think it is because we got him going early!
Because while everyone else is asking “how do I do this?” — fixers are already halfway to the solution. These are the thinkers, doers, and problem-solvers that keep everything running. They’re the people who make sure our world doesn’t fall apart — sometimes with nothing more than a Band-Aid and a pair of toenail clippers.