When Paula's parents would come to town when we were first married, her dad would happily dive into whatever projects she needed done around the apartment, and then the house. It bugged me a little at first, but I soon realized that he enjoyed doing such things and that he always did a superb job. After a while I started quietly adding things to Paula's list in anticipation of her parents' visits.
Our son Mike's wife Adrienne was recently awarded a PhD for her research at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE (that's NewARK, as opposed to that imitation place in New Jersey that maybe spelled the same but is pronounced incorrectly). They'll be moving to Provo, Utah in the next several weeks where she'll be a professor at BYU, and so they're putting their house in NewARK up for sale. They've been working hard to get it ready, but meanwhile Adrienne has been editing her thesis, she and Mike have been working on the house, taking care of the kids, etc., etc.
It's been a great house for them, and they bought it when interests rate were at the bottom of the curve. Like any house built in 1969, there are always things that need work. Paula and I loaded up the minivan and headed north for a week to help out.
Windows needed washed,
and carpets needed cleaned.
Someone told Adrienne that on the average, painting the front door black would increase the sale price of a house by $6,200. Wow! I need to paint some doors black!
Other things needed to be painted white, though the financial upswing on those apparently hasn't been calculated.
Home Depot's stock always spikes upward when we come to Newark, and this time was no exception
While I was working on trim, three questions came to mind: 1) do they make those little trim nails wimpy just to irritate people when they try to drive them straight, 2) when is Christmas so that I can ask for a nail gun, and 3) when did I get so bald?!
For the past 28 years, Mike's whitewater kayak has hung on his bedroom wall in Raleigh, a great piece of hanging art, but even more a reminder of the great adventures that he and Sam and I had in the mountains running rivers together with his uncle and cousins. I admit to a pang handing it over, but it's time to do so, and there are further adventures awaiting it out west.
While the adults worked, Kate, the five-year-old wild child of the family entertained herself watching ballet videos under the watchful but bored gaze of Elsie the Cat.
She worked hard perfecting intricate dance moves, complete with elegant costumes.
and of course she helped move the three yards of mulch from where the truck dumped it in front of the house.
Always the gardener, Paula bent the flower beds to her will,
taking time to smell the hyacinths.
Four-month-old Emma won't understand for years that her sister Kate's clothing choices are...unusual, or that life isn't always chaos.
Way back when we were young, I thought that it must have been a pain for my father-in-law to come to town and spend his time working on our stuff. However, now that it's our turn, I understand that I didn't understand. It's actually a pleasure to help, and it feels right to hide the Home Depot and grocery receipts at the end of the day. Just like they did back then.
Dave & Paula
