As I popped on to my blog today I tried not to get woozy when I scanned through the dates of my last posts…12 months ago…24 months ago. Ahhh, I could feel my gut hurt.
Anyway. Let me update you on what has been going on in my life over the last 2 years.
As most of you know I’m sort of an awkward person. What I mean, is that I like to get lost. Lost in the process of creating.
First comes the dream that seems to consume me. I sleep less, eat less and drink a whole lot of coffee. And then…before much calculation of the pain I will go through…I start running.
2 years ago my wife asked me if we could close in a screen porch we had on the back of our house to give her a little more room as a place to teach the kids. From there I convinced her we should add a large garage, second story, second story porch while we are at it, master bedroom, another bathroom and hey, lets gut our existing house. Plumbing, HVAC, sheetrock, flooring, roof, siding and the list goes on.
In the end we more than doubled the size of the house, the budget and quadrupled the time we planned to do it.
As the project started, we planned on me being the general contractor. My work would consist of selecting and scheduling the people to build the addition. After a few weeks in, I couldn’t help myself. I became the coffee guy, then the laborer, after that I started to learn how to frame. Soon I found myself hiring laborers to help me.
I got so lost in the joy of building that our 4-month project turned into a 18-month project. For the last year and a half I worked at the office (Abiah) and then grabbed a coffee and headed to the house until about 10:00pm.
At the house, by myself in a wood shell, I would think about you and this blog. How I wished I could get the time to bring something of value to you, my friends. I would think, here I am, a brand strategist and designer and all I can think about is carpentry.
I’m happy to say that we have moved back into the house some weeks back, but still moonlighting as a carpenter…6 days a week.
This was a longer process than I wanted or planned, but through this process I learned that I have to create. And that I need problems to solve. Whether it is building with wood, color, metal or bushes. I’m sure a few of you are identifying with me.
NOTE: 2 years before this project I just completed a 5-year project of building a 12,500 square foot, concrete skatepark at our church, as a volunteer.
As a person who gets lost in chasing dreams, through this process I realized how important my role as a husband and father is. My next big goal is to be around a bit more for my wife and 2 little ones. Since we moved back to the house, the kids and I have been catching lizards, frogs, even caught a chipmunk (check my Facebook for the release video) and a bug my daughter calls “Leafy” who is her first pet.
Anyway. Thanks for those who have cared, encouraged and spoke into my life over the years.
Hope you enjoy these pictures.
...and still working on it!
