You don’t need to join a fitness club to keep yourself in shape. Sometimes just changing a light bulb provides unexpected exercise options.

Our kitchen light fixture features a white globe with two sixty-watt bulbs. It’s attached to a large brown fan we rarely use because of the squeaking noise it makes when it rotates. The fan has become a giant dust collector with no real purpose in life other than providing a secure base on which to attach the light globe.

Periodically, both bulbs in the fixture burn out. Since the fixture is too high to reach, we must use a chair to change the bulbs. Neither my husband Dan nor I enjoy the physical demands of this process.

A few weeks ago, I flipped the kitchen light on, and nothing happened. I pretended not to notice, hoping Dan would change the bulbs.

Dan came into the kitchen and switched on the fluorescent light over the sink. He didn’t even try to turn on the main fixture so he obviously knew the light bulbs were out.

After several days of waiting for Dan to change the bulbs, I gave up. I grabbed a wooden chair from the dining room table, climbed onto it, and began to remove the globe. As I unscrewed the three screws connecting it to the fan base, one screw fell onto the floor. I removed the other two, climbed down, and retrieved the mischievous screw. Then I laid all of them on the blue countertop by the sink. I cleaned the globe and set it aside to dry. Replacing both of the bulbs in the sockets, I clambered down and flipped the light switch to ensure both of them worked. I climbed up again with the globe in hand. Suddenly Dan walked into the kitchen.

“Oh, have the light bulbs burnt out? Let me help you.”

“As if you didn’t know,” I laughed. “OK, Dan, here are the three screws. Hand them to me one at a time. Oops, sorry, I dropped one. Do you see it anywhere?”

Dan bent over.

“There it is, Dan, right under the chair.”

He retrieved it and said, “Let me attach the globe for you.”

“Ok, hop up here. Here’s the globe.”

Dan positioned the globe and promptly dropped the screw. He remained on the chair as I edged around the floor.

“Here it is, Dan. No, it's a leaf. Here it is. No, it's a piece of cat food. Here it is. No, it's a piece of lint. Where’s that doggone screw?”

Finally, Dan jumped off the chair with the globe. As he sat it down, he spotted the screw on the blue rug in front of the sink. Back up on the chair he scrambled. I handed him the screw. He didn’t drop it this time, but the holes in the globe didn’t line up well with the holes in the fan base. This made it difficult for Dan to push the screw through the opening.

“I can’t believe this,” said Dan. “The screw won’t go in.”

“Let me try.”

We changed places, and I successfully pushed the first screw through the hole. It dropped out immediately and assumed a camouflage position on the floor.

Like a pair of old crabs, Dan and I crawled on our knees searching for the screw. This time we couldn’t find it so we gave up. Ultimately, we attached the globe with only two screws, hoping it wouldn’t fall off. Two days later we found the missing screw when I stepped on it with my bare foot. We breathed a sign of relief when all three screws were back in place in the light fixture.

Later I asked Dan why most men are reluctant to change light bulbs.

“Surely, you jest,” he replied. “Men don’t like to change light bulbs because real men are not afraid of the dark.”