Joyce and I recently filled a weekend to the brim with this principle.
Day ONE was a trip to beautiful Angus to help our daughter Maddi and her fiancee Chris with a backyard project. They bought a place there a few years ago, and part of the package was an old school aluminum garden shed that had been erected in questionable fashion. Chris harboured an urge to replace it with a more usable version but felt strongly that a pad of patio stones atop limestone screening was a better longterm choice than the present wood and earth effort. Enter the in-laws (at least, soon to be in-laws), joining Chris' parents Tony and Cheryl. The 800 lb gorilla was that the pandemic was putting the proverbial monkey wrench in the gears because the most reasonable price for said newer shed proved to be a Herculean task with shutdown-lockdown conditions. It became apparent that we would have to keep the old shed in usable fashion until the newer shed became available for purchase. There was a collective shaking of heads, to say the least.
Not to be intimidated, we forged ahead with shifting the old shed out of the way, removing the wooden flooring, digging out the remnants of a rabbit warren in the earth below, then filling in the newly dug hole with limestone screening. Much maths and consternation was applied as survey stakes, boundary string and levelling tools were employed to prepare the area for the new patio stones ... if we had them! Poor Chris had spent more time than he should have to ordering, arranging and confirming the delivery of the bin for the earth, the limestone, and the patio stones, but the stones proved to be an issue since they wanted a share of their first born to deliver. When he travelled to the local hardware store with his father's pickup and trailer, waited in line, and presented his phone with the email confirmation of the order, he was informed that they did not have the stones in stock. Incredulous, and informing them of his extreme displeasure, he spent another 30 minutes securing a business that had actual physical patio stones in stock, but he had to drive to Barrie to get them. We all felt terrible for the undue stress that was sitting perched on his shoulders.
While all of this was happening, the rest of us forged ahead with the surface preparation, and I was pretty darn impressed with what a group of fogeys in their late 50's could accomplish. When the stones finally were finally laid, the screening arranged around the edges and the clean up completed, it looked like a slightly raised dance floor befitting an old fashioned Hoedown. Moving the old aluminum shed back into place was a relatively easy task, involving a 90 degree turn since the kids wished the entrance to be coming from a different direction. Of course, I couldn't resist commenting that we just expended a lot of energy and cost to turn the shed 90 degrees ... a sheepish giggle and grin followed.
Day TWO was a continuance of a previous weekend, helping my brother prepare his house for testing the volcanic Real Estate market in our area. He lives out in Springwater, meaning that the zaniness is not on the scale that within the Barrie limits sees, but his Realtor still felt that it was a hot market. The work amounted to a lot of sprucing up, painting, rearranging, cleaning, and decluttering. While not even close to the physical demands of slugging patio stones around, it was still a day of stooping, scrubbing, sponging and painting. It felt really good to see the changes slowly materializing, brightening up the visage, and my brother was being realistic in his outlook, remarking that if the sale process doesn't proceed the way he hopes, he'd be more than happy to live in a new-look surrounding.
I've got my fingers crossed for he and my sister-in-law.
Day THREE was a favour for a teaching colleague from my days at Central and North, having known each other for over 20 years, and spending time with our kids growing up together. My colleague is just a shade behind me in the journey through education, is planning on retiring in the next little while, and had just purchased a condo on the waterfront. The previously arranged assistance fell through and the call was made to me inquiring if I could lend a hand ... of Course, says I! How hard can it be, I thought.
I met my colleague at the loading door to the new building, and when the back door was opened ... well, let's just say the a future in PRO-Tetris is a definite maybe! The cabin of the small cube van was filled bottom to ceiling with nary a space left unfilled. We set about the task and it quickly became apparent that the mandatory use of the loading bay and it's 90 degree turn into the hallway that led to the elevators was going to present a problem. Not to be bested, a decision was quickly made, using the adage "It's better to ask forgiveness than permission!" as it's foundation. I'm glad to report that the move was a resounding success, everything eventually found a place in the new digs, and we were well under the 4 hour limit on having the elevator on service. We celebrated with a lovely Starbucks, a treat from the other helper on the day.
Joyce and I have discussed our own impending move, and we've decided that we're far too old to be asking our equally aged friends to help when we can easily afford to pay for some professional help. A call went out to Central alum Johnny "Rockstar" Rockbrune and we have our date booked for later in June.
When you step out of your pandemic-infused comfort, mask in place, and lend some time and energy to those in need, you come away feeling pretty daggummit good about your self.
And I rewarded myself with a sun-drenched, beautiful ride in Oro Medonte.
BONUS!
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