Weeks 16 & 17

Mac insisted that I throw mulch at him
for a picture idea he had...

As the creaky flatbed slowly made its way down the narrow street, my hope of ending the day with a light workload turned to incredulity at the sheer volume of sheetrock my eyes had focused on, which then turned to despair when the notion set in that I would be carrying each piece into the house. Friday afternoon, 10 people, 37,000 lbs of oversized sheetrock going into a house with stairs. The task seemed impossible as I stared at the two massive piles of 150 lb floppy, easy to damage white boards, but like most things, a difficult task does not automatically translate into an impossible task; what must be done can be done.

Once of the three benches my KaBoom group built.

So heavy awkward piece by heavy awkward piece, our strained and tired bodies carried every single board into the house. I’ll tell you what, there was quite a sense of accomplishment that came along with the muscle strain, but humbleness was in the mix as well. There are many things you simply couldn’t do without a team of folks to back you up, and even then, it’s not always easy.

They make Build Captains wear
pretty ridiculous garb.

Another KaBoom build was in line for us the day after “the sheetrock incident”, and since we had to be up by 5:30am for that, everyone fell into bed pretty early. Ashlyn, Ruth and I decided to walk to Café du Monde for coffee and beignets before bed since I was leaving after KaBoom the next day and heading home for Thanksgiving. This turned into a frightening experience when we heard nearby gunshots just after leaving the house. Being a small town girl, I assumed the sound was issued by fireworks of sorts, and turned around to look. When I turned back a second or two later, Ashlyn and Ruth had already run halfway down the street. Needless to say, I’m still alive and have learned that when in doubt about loud noises, assume gunfire.

My trip home was great and I got to spend quite a bit of time with my family since I got to be there for a little more than a week. Mom and Dad’s house is nearing completion and I got to help them do some finish work, so that was kind of fun. I even got to see some snow while I was home, so it was a well rounded visit. The babies are getting so big, but I’d recognize them anywhere. They’ve got an Evelyness about them that cannot be overlooked.

Well, I’ve only got 2 ½ weeks left in NOLA and it still feels like I just got here. The only thing that marks the passing of time is the Christmas music that has begun to play all around me.

Where we're from.