Week 30

Putting up some sheetrock.

Not much to report. I did a great deal of sheetrocking and mudding this week, which was fun and also good experience. Ask anyone in the business and they’ll tell you that mudding is an art form that takes lots of practice to do correctly, so I’m anxious to get as much experience as I can in this program. So far, so good.

Yesterday we left work early to go to a house dedication on one of the places that our sponsor organization built for a family of 3. It was the first time I’d seen what kind of houses R3SM builds, because thus far, our work hasn’t strayed from the big volunteer house. It was a very nice little house, and the family was really excited to move in. The family, a mother with 15-year-old twins, has been living in a broken down place for some time, and I’m not sure it wasn’t meant as a garage rather than a dwelling. The new house was built right next door, so they don’t even have to move their garden growing out back.

Earlier in the week I set up an ISP (Independent Service Project) with Hattiesburg Parks and Recreation for today, so I spent the morning painting concrete bleachers next to a ball field used for the rec league. It’s a beautiful day, so it wasn’t much of a chore. I set up another ISP for tomorrow at a women’s shelter, where we’ll be helping to build a wheel chair ramp. No days off this week, but I don’t mind. It gives me something to do.

I’ve gotten back into the habit of running most evenings, which I had kind of fallen out of when we were in New Orleans and I wasn’t able to go out by myself. The place where I’m staying now has a little gravel path that snakes around the property filled with ponds that reflect the moonlight quite nicely, so I’m careful to wait until the sun has almost set to begin my exercise. It feels good to have that time to myself again, not to mention that the weather has been absolutely gorgeous and in the 80’s here, so I try to spend as much time outdoors as possible. To cool down, I lay beside one of ponds and stare at the Mississippi stars. I know it sounds too good to be true, but this really is my life. I often lay there and ask myself, “How did I get here.”