Week 10

Our last day at new build site.

My regular site being closed on Tuesday, I started out the week at a different site that my friends Jacquie, Cain, and Danielle work at on a regular basis. I love working on my house, but it was a nice break to get to work with a different small group than usual. Jacquie and I were assigned to exterior painting for the entire day, so we got to talk as we went, and it turned out to be a very enjoyable work day.

The following days were spent at my regular site, and I did a lot of work putting laminate wood floors together on top of concrete that used to accommodate pee carpet. Putting this stuff together for 3 days straight was more than a little warring, but the end result was well worth the bruised knees, bloody fingers, and heartfelt laments. And as always, we ended our week by working on our new build house, causing flooring to become a pleasantly distant memory.

Almost all of the roof work has been completed, some of the wood siding has been nailed in place, and the soffit is up. This house has been my team’s baby, and it was definitely a blow to leave it on Saturday, knowing we’d never get to complete the work we’d begun, or even see it again for that matter. I suppose it’s just one of those things where you have let go and trust that someone else will carry on your work after you’ve moved on to something else.

The weather has been so incredible, I’ve spent most of my free time before and after work on the porch, swinging away with my guitar, or a book, or in a group of friends talking, crocheting, and drinking hot tea. Two of my teammates, Ruth and Mac, are anxious to learn guitar, so I spend a lot of time fielding questions of, Does this sound right? It’s fun to share what you know.

Cain, one of the guys on my team, is a music fanatic just like me, so we’ve spent quite a few evenings on the porch passing the guitar back and forth, seeing how many songs we can remember well enough to play, and then pulling out our iPod’s and DJing new music for each other. I love these nights, because I almost feel like I’m home, sharing music back and forth with Dad on the front porch in Wilmore.

On another note (Get it? Like a music “note”!), I’m getting used to 5am PT, and I actually kind of like it, because it makes the regular days when I don’t have to be up until 6:15am feel like sleep-in days. Everything really is completely relative I suppose…