There is no real guidebook for a woman alone in her home. No one threw me a shower. To give me pots and pans. The ones I’d left behind and couldn’t afford to replace. No one to give me hammers and socket wrenches. No one told me about furnace filters or gutter cleaning or caulking. There was only me and a house and a vast gap of knowledge. Single homeowner Lyz Lenz thanks the dads of YouTube.
… that’s how I ended up on the floor of my basement. The washing machine backing up and refusing to drain, with my daughter’s volleyball uniform inside. I knew I couldn’t get it fixed that day. It had to be done, and I knew I could do it. I had YouTube. … watching these videos, I don’t feel condescended to. I’m not being sexualized, or mocked. The videos give me safe distance to google questions and accept advice without feeling I owe this person anything in return. In the world of transactional heterosexual relationships, the YouTube explainer dad only needs a view, which I’ve given. It’s just a person, a human, explaining to me, another person, how to fix the broken things, and I am so grateful.