Atypical

Atypical, on Netflix, is adorable.

It's a series about a family in which everyone is a little bit weird sometimes....

Sam, who has autism and is obsessed with Antartica and penguins, his track star sister, his hair stylist mom, and his EMT dad.

It's a really good show to watch when it's a full moon and you can't fall asleep.

Speaking of atypical, I hired two guys this weekend to patch my roof and driveway and give me a bid on my casita roof.

They arrived in a Mercedes, no truck, and we all hopped in my car, including Elena, and went to Home Depot to buy stuff for the project.

This is not the typical way to get things done, I know, but by the end of Day One I really liked them.

On the second day, they were late.  Mercedes got a flat and no rim could be found that fit.  One of them had to walk here because his truck's brakes were broken.  He started working anyway, smiling all the time.  Then he stopped and told me twenty minutes of his life story and he started crying and I almost did, too.

They were sweet and messy and smart and broke.  I started not to like them on Day 2 because they were late and disorganized.

Today they came back and did every single thing on the letter I left on the porch to explain that people need contracts and clear expectations and punctuality.  At 6, they texted me to come see all the cool stuff they'd done, and I did and I liked them all over again.

While I'm not sure I'd hire them for a roofing job--at least not until they get a truck that works so they can buy shingles and tar--I'm glad I hired them for the preliminaries and got to know them.

When we parted, the brakes were entirely goners on the old green truck, and I started to say weird mama things like "Bless your heart" (I meant it in a good way, but it sounded pretty insipid) and if I'd have been there one more minute I might have told them I loved them a little bit because I did.

I was talking to Kate about that time (she knows one of them), and together we decided that everybody's heart should be blessed, in spite of everything.