After a fantastic dinner last night as guests of our dear friends Deb and Ky I was feeling pretty good.
Have I ever told you about these two by the way? Sometimes I wonder at the wealth of friends we have from various walks of life, and yet I think it's okay to take some credit for that. I'm proud of the open mindedness that Roo and I have both acquired over the last several years, or perhaps rather than having acquired, it may be more appropriate to say having been taught by our children, as well as all those aforementioned friends. I remember clearly feeling a wee bit nervous the first time we were out in public with this same sex couple, and now some years later it doesn't even seem weird. Not that they themselves aren't weird, but I guess that goes without saying as the proof of it lies in the fact that they like us as well. :)
But I digress. I didn't intend a boast about our liberal attitudes, but rather a boast about this exceptional couple who also happen to be our friends, and the fact that after several hours of great conversation I was feeling relaxed for the first time in days. Thank you ladies!! You are my friends!
So I managed to get to sleep fairly well despite the fact that our pool fence is totally decimated in the back yard, and that mixed in with that carnage are at least 40 roof shingles. I managed to go to sleep despite several serious, down to the plywood, bare spots on our roof. Holy cow!!
But! It lasted until about 4 am at which time I went to Tim Hortons and bought a large coffee and 2 apple fritters. The plan was to have my breakfast and then crawl back into bed for a few hours.
Didn't happen!
And I know why.
It's all about control!
You see the wind was still howling, it had gotten quite a bit colder, there were snowflakes in the air, and I was feeling old. There was a timeline on the situation because eventually it was gonna either rain again which would create an obvious problem, or it would start snowing seriously which would make for a dangerous situation. I was so terribly afraid that I would have to call someone else to come and fix my roof, and the very idea of giving up that kind of control, let alone paying someone to take it was just about more than my psyche could handle. I had this vision of some arrogant asshole explaining to the dumb civilian, how he would need to do this, and need to do that, and that it was all very complicated, and very costly, and this old grampa should just stay out of the way!!
How am I ever gonna cope as the years wear on, and my body wears out, and I simply can not do this stuff anymore? Right now I don't know.....
So of course that left me with no choice for today!
So I took control.
Business first though, so after my donuts,I polished up the final version of my lawyer letter and fired that off to all the interested (or not interested) parties, and got that out of the way. I know I alluded to my latest lawyer visit last night, but what I didn't tell you was that after he read my draft he gave it his 100% blessing! Even the relevant legal nuances I had correct! I was pretty proud!
Then after that I drove to London to buy shingles (I live in a one horse town), but by the time I was back it was still way too windy to climb on the roof, and I was alternately too tired, and too hyped to do so anyway.
So I said screw it, and went running. I went super slo-mo, but I'm happy to report that I made it around the block without falling apart. Very tenuous but very refreshing, and of course the best part was that it diffused a good portion of my anxiety. I'm toying with the idea of keeping it under 10 kms per trip, perhaps until the end of the year. Maybe all I need is a rest? I'm still thinking however.
By the time I got out of my running stuff and into some warm working clothes the wind had let up a bit. I decided to get my tools sorted out, get my ladder up and tied off, and maybe just go up and have a look. What I found was the exact same mess I left it yesterday when I had scrambled up there in the middle of the wind storm to indiscriminately pound nails in everywhere just to keep the whole thing from coming off. I had already decided that we will replace the entire garage portion come spring time, but in the interim it was gonna be quite a challenge to patch it up enough to make it waterproof.
So while I'm debating tactics and still feeling a wee bit overwhelmed I get a powerful shot in the arm. My youngest son shows up in the garage with a message from his mother, and a can-do attitude. The message was, "Mom says she needs me to help you so that she doesn't worry about you falling off the roof". Okay! The can-do attitude was of his own doing, and while he applies that to most things in his life it was still a powerful motivator when he applied it to my project.
And of course along with his enthusiasm Adrian brought his young strong muscles, not to mention the fact that in this particular situation I didn't have to give up much control.
I'm proud to say that my youngest motivated me today, and perhaps even in a way he never realized. You see we were working away cleaning up the old nails, and tearing off ripped shingles until it came time to bring some new ones up on to the roof. I went down and wrestled a 70 pound bundle up the ladder, all the time wondering if I could still do it. It was with a bit of surprise that I realized that I could handle it not too badly. I wouldn't want to carry 100 such bundles up, but I think I could safely do 10 without tearing or breaking something.
But no matter how confidence building that little feat was, Adrain had still saved the best for me. You see, when it was time to get the next bundle he took charge and hustled on down. I continued what I was doing and never noticed that he was on his way back until he called me from the top of the ladder. He had the bundle of shingles over his shoulder, and while grunting to get them the last few feet he wondered out loud, how I have ever managed to get them up??!! I went over and provided just a wee bit of assistance!! I don't think he knows what happened to my spirits at that moment!!
Anyway, what started out to be a daunting task turned out to be an intense yet gratifying 3 hours spent on the roof with one of my favourite people. I still have a bunch of caulking to do tomorrow, but that's a one man job, and it looks like the weather's gonna hold up/ Thank you Adrian!! You are my son!!
Then a nap!
Then to Home Hardware to buy a new caulking gun, with a brief stop on the way to see another of my amazing offspring.
Have I ever told you about these two by the way? Sometimes I wonder at the wealth of friends we have from various walks of life, and yet I think it's okay to take some credit for that. I'm proud of the open mindedness that Roo and I have both acquired over the last several years, or perhaps rather than having acquired, it may be more appropriate to say having been taught by our children, as well as all those aforementioned friends. I remember clearly feeling a wee bit nervous the first time we were out in public with this same sex couple, and now some years later it doesn't even seem weird. Not that they themselves aren't weird, but I guess that goes without saying as the proof of it lies in the fact that they like us as well. :)
But I digress. I didn't intend a boast about our liberal attitudes, but rather a boast about this exceptional couple who also happen to be our friends, and the fact that after several hours of great conversation I was feeling relaxed for the first time in days. Thank you ladies!! You are my friends!
So I managed to get to sleep fairly well despite the fact that our pool fence is totally decimated in the back yard, and that mixed in with that carnage are at least 40 roof shingles. I managed to go to sleep despite several serious, down to the plywood, bare spots on our roof. Holy cow!!
But! It lasted until about 4 am at which time I went to Tim Hortons and bought a large coffee and 2 apple fritters. The plan was to have my breakfast and then crawl back into bed for a few hours.
Didn't happen!
And I know why.
It's all about control!
You see the wind was still howling, it had gotten quite a bit colder, there were snowflakes in the air, and I was feeling old. There was a timeline on the situation because eventually it was gonna either rain again which would create an obvious problem, or it would start snowing seriously which would make for a dangerous situation. I was so terribly afraid that I would have to call someone else to come and fix my roof, and the very idea of giving up that kind of control, let alone paying someone to take it was just about more than my psyche could handle. I had this vision of some arrogant asshole explaining to the dumb civilian, how he would need to do this, and need to do that, and that it was all very complicated, and very costly, and this old grampa should just stay out of the way!!
How am I ever gonna cope as the years wear on, and my body wears out, and I simply can not do this stuff anymore? Right now I don't know.....
So of course that left me with no choice for today!
So I took control.
Business first though, so after my donuts,I polished up the final version of my lawyer letter and fired that off to all the interested (or not interested) parties, and got that out of the way. I know I alluded to my latest lawyer visit last night, but what I didn't tell you was that after he read my draft he gave it his 100% blessing! Even the relevant legal nuances I had correct! I was pretty proud!
Then after that I drove to London to buy shingles (I live in a one horse town), but by the time I was back it was still way too windy to climb on the roof, and I was alternately too tired, and too hyped to do so anyway.
So I said screw it, and went running. I went super slo-mo, but I'm happy to report that I made it around the block without falling apart. Very tenuous but very refreshing, and of course the best part was that it diffused a good portion of my anxiety. I'm toying with the idea of keeping it under 10 kms per trip, perhaps until the end of the year. Maybe all I need is a rest? I'm still thinking however.
By the time I got out of my running stuff and into some warm working clothes the wind had let up a bit. I decided to get my tools sorted out, get my ladder up and tied off, and maybe just go up and have a look. What I found was the exact same mess I left it yesterday when I had scrambled up there in the middle of the wind storm to indiscriminately pound nails in everywhere just to keep the whole thing from coming off. I had already decided that we will replace the entire garage portion come spring time, but in the interim it was gonna be quite a challenge to patch it up enough to make it waterproof.
So while I'm debating tactics and still feeling a wee bit overwhelmed I get a powerful shot in the arm. My youngest son shows up in the garage with a message from his mother, and a can-do attitude. The message was, "Mom says she needs me to help you so that she doesn't worry about you falling off the roof". Okay! The can-do attitude was of his own doing, and while he applies that to most things in his life it was still a powerful motivator when he applied it to my project.
And of course along with his enthusiasm Adrian brought his young strong muscles, not to mention the fact that in this particular situation I didn't have to give up much control.
I'm proud to say that my youngest motivated me today, and perhaps even in a way he never realized. You see we were working away cleaning up the old nails, and tearing off ripped shingles until it came time to bring some new ones up on to the roof. I went down and wrestled a 70 pound bundle up the ladder, all the time wondering if I could still do it. It was with a bit of surprise that I realized that I could handle it not too badly. I wouldn't want to carry 100 such bundles up, but I think I could safely do 10 without tearing or breaking something.
But no matter how confidence building that little feat was, Adrain had still saved the best for me. You see, when it was time to get the next bundle he took charge and hustled on down. I continued what I was doing and never noticed that he was on his way back until he called me from the top of the ladder. He had the bundle of shingles over his shoulder, and while grunting to get them the last few feet he wondered out loud, how I have ever managed to get them up??!! I went over and provided just a wee bit of assistance!! I don't think he knows what happened to my spirits at that moment!!
Anyway, what started out to be a daunting task turned out to be an intense yet gratifying 3 hours spent on the roof with one of my favourite people. I still have a bunch of caulking to do tomorrow, but that's a one man job, and it looks like the weather's gonna hold up/ Thank you Adrian!! You are my son!!
Then a nap!
Then to Home Hardware to buy a new caulking gun, with a brief stop on the way to see another of my amazing offspring.
Unfortunately I left just before she scored, but more importantly Roo and Mom were there. I think that goal will keep Roo on a high for about a week. Thanks Ky. You are my granddaughter!
So intensity was definitely the word for the day, and although I'm very tired now, it's a good tired. However I've stopped trying to fool myself that it's gonna result in a sleep for the ages, as after six years of wishing I know that dream (pun intended) went away with my cancer treatments. I'll settle for a half assed sleep! After all, that's the way I do everything else in life. :)
Thanks everyone for reading! You are my family.
run 7.5 kms
"Intense love does not measure, it just gives."---Mother Teresa
So intensity was definitely the word for the day, and although I'm very tired now, it's a good tired. However I've stopped trying to fool myself that it's gonna result in a sleep for the ages, as after six years of wishing I know that dream (pun intended) went away with my cancer treatments. I'll settle for a half assed sleep! After all, that's the way I do everything else in life. :)
Thanks everyone for reading! You are my family.
run 7.5 kms
"Intense love does not measure, it just gives."---Mother Teresa
Love
Peter
Peter
Beautiful, Pete!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Bro. Story well told for sure!
ReplyDeleteLove HOJ