Brownie Points

On our wedding day 44 years ago, I didn’t know I was joining up with a do-it-yourself remodeler who would revolutionize the way I thought about making a house a home. I was vaguely acquainted with the idea of home maintenance and interior decorating, but had never lived in a structure with disabled plumbing or demolished walls.  One where construction grit lurked in every crack and the sound of power tools wailed until midnight and beyond.

It didn’t take long for that to change, and now I’m the veteran of two major extended do-it-yourself overhauls. I’m more informed and experienced. Wiser. It's interesting to note that those sometimes-grueling remodel experiences reshaped and expanded me in positive ways I could never have predicted.

Not long ago my hubby said, “I’m tearing out the picture window – it has a rotten spot that’s beyond repair - and I’m replacing it myself.  No point in paying someone else to do what I can do myself.”  I knew what that would involve, also what it could involve should there be unforeseen challenges (not uncommon in remodel).  It wasn’t just about old and new windows, but the process involved - the procedural aspect of the undertaking with its potential chaos and mess, its inevitable surprises.

As I type this, we’re once again in the thick of remodel (although replacing a window is a relatively small project), and I am blessed.  In his younger years, my spouse-gone-remodeler could be quite impetuous and focused on the task at hand to the exclusion of everything else.  But presently he’s very carefully double-checking every step of the way without hurrying the agenda, and also entertaining my interests. He’s taking extra precaution to alleviate unnecessary dirt in the house, and even initiated the use of the vacuum hose to catch drywall dust.  He boarded up the gaping hole in the wall in-between tear-out of the old window (yesterday) and replacement with the new window (tomorrow). 

Brownie points, I told him.  You’re earning brownie points with me this time.