Assembly required

Sarah texted around six asking if I could help her put together a bookshelf she’d been avoiding for three weeks. Of course I said yes, even though my track record with IKEA instructions is questionable at best.

Assembly required

Two hours later we’re both sitting on my living room floor, surrounded by what looks like the aftermath of a very organized explosion. Turns out neither of us actually knows what we’re doing, but at least we’re confused together. Sarah’s got her methodical approach going—reading every word of the instructions twice—while I’m over here trying to intuit which screws go where based on vibes alone.

The moment we thought we figured it out

This was the moment we both thought we’d cracked the code on step seven. Spoiler alert: we had not cracked the code on step seven. But we did figure out that leftover Chinese takeout makes excellent assembly fuel, and that Jake’s surprisingly good at finding the one tiny screw that rolled under the couch.

The bookshelf’s actually standing now, only slightly wobbly. Sarah’s happy, I got to feel useful, and we both learned that sometimes the best part of helping someone isn’t being good at it—it’s just showing up with snacks and stubbornness.