The thing repaired by someone you love carries another reason to be handled carefully.

Objects pick up history from the hands that fixed them. A chair your father glued, a jacket someone mended, a bike a friend spent a Saturday on: the repair adds a layer that has nothing to do with function, and the thing becomes partly a record of somebody’s attention. That is why breaking it a second time feels worse than it should. Care for the object turns out to be care for the person.

Notice which of your things carry someone else’s work in them. Treat one of them a little better this week, and tell whoever did it that you still use it.