With my head under the hood, I didn’t even hear my neighbour shuffle up behind me. My eyes were focused on wrenching out the spark plugs so I could put in new ones.

By this point, I had already drained and changed the oil on a sunny Saturday morning when Ethel spoke up.

“What are you doing there?” she asked, inching in closer.

“Tuning up my car,” I replied while being careful not to bang my head as I turned to talk with her.

“Where is Jamie?” she asked of my husband’s whereabouts.

“Inside, doing the dishes.” I kept things short since I wanted to get back to the job at hand.

“Oh, you modern couples,” Ethel said, throwing her hands in the air before heading home.

The humour of the situation didn’t hit me until later. Growing up in a hands-on, get-it-done family, it never occurred to me to........

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