Definitely expected to.

There is something about being a husband and a father that defines you as a person. Part of that definition is the expectation of yourself to provide for those you love. To take care of them, to protect them and irrationally, to fix things for them.

I have a long standing relationship with my snow blower. It is like an unhappily married old couple. There is a lot of tears, cursing, and nothing gets going when I want it to work, no matter how much pull starting is involved.

So far this winter I have lumped it and just shoveled. I have been hoping that my neighbors have an early onset of dementia and forget the fact I own a snow blower.

Today I tackled it. Not physically in a fit of frustration, I just attempted the fix.

I have learned that the best way to emasculate someone is to have them fail at something that they should be able to do, like cook eggs, remember an anniversary, or fix a small internal combustion engine. I would rather sit down to do all things bathroom rather than fail at those tasks.

Usually these operations end up with me in a fit of tears, throwing things around and pronouncing death on all things mechanical with every word they taught me in basic training. To obtain similar results just lock an orangutan in a room with only a crescent wrench and a banana trapped inside a lawnmower.

My wife has learned about these times. Today she stopped me and said "I'm so proud of you for trying." I think she was hoping to prevent the children learning how to swear in two languages. It was appreciated.

A lot of the problem is that I think "Hey, I'm a smart guy. I can fix computers. I can read. I have the internet. I can fix a machine that won't pull start."

I love how macho it sounds when I get to say "I think it's a problem with tainted fuel in the lines. I'll have to drain the carburetor." Usually the only time I say things like that are when I have to encode the message to my wife that I have to go potty.

I did get it working, which only slightly balanced out my day. I'm still sad that I couldn't get the extra 2GB of RAM I bought for my laptop to work in series with the SODIMM I already have. Cosmically I suspect somewhere there is a shop mechanic who just built a working cantenna.

The lesson for this is support those trying to fix stuff, especially if they fail spectacularly. Unless of course you enjoy watching them cry, and if so, just go pop some popcorn and offer suggestions like "you're not turning it hard enough".