Kissing Joy

With tools, with cars — even with kids — the trick is not to own but to borrow.

photo courtesy of Steve Byland

There was the time a stranger smoked me in the head with a shovel.

I’d been scrolling through the wasteland of Twitter when the impact landed like a hot jolt on the side of the face. Luckily it was the smooth part of the spade that made contact with my cheekbone; still, the blow was enough to disorient me.

What just happened? I wondered. (Answer: the guy ahead of me in line, shovel resting on his shoulder, had turned abruptly.)

Where was I? I wondered. (A tool library.)

A tool library is, in case you were wondering, precisely what it sounds like, except that instead of books you sign out skill saws, squares, and high-powered drills. You know: like, tools. Heck, you can even sign out a wheel barrow. (How nobody has trademarked ‘Borrow-a-Barrow’ is beyond me. Entrepreneurial reader, be my guest.)

To any homeowners who live outside the city (far enough to be able to see the stars and own a two-door garage), the notion of owning property — but not the tools to maintain it — may come off as laughable, if not downright irresponsible.

Those of us who do live in an urban center, however, where the function and form of every square foot must be…