I'm doing my best to keep up the slicing habit on Tuesdays! All are welcome! Join us at Two Writing Teachers!
"So what's on your birthday list?" I asked my husband's brother, Paul. "Any wishes?"
Birthdays have been tricky for the last thirteen months for reasons we all understand. Mostly, 2020-2021 birthdays have been low-key affairs for our family-- a special dinner and a cake with the family and maybe a few zoomed in guests. But Paul's birthday last week was a big one. Not forty. Not fifty. We'll stop there...
Here's what you need to know about Paul: he's busy. He always has a project, and we share a house in Rhode Island with him and his wife where there's never a shortage of things that need to be done. Especially in the spring, there's a lot to get the house into summer shape.
A sly smile spread across Paul's face as he got ready to answer.
"I want everyone in Rhode Island," he said, "working!"
Oh boy.
Paul had decided that the back deck should be taken down and turned into a patio-- a decision we all agreed with. However, he didn't stop there. He also decided that the lawnmower shed should be demolished and the wood from the deck used to build a new structure: a two story shoff, he called it... a combination of a shed and an office. Somehow he'd gotten a permit, and he'd had my husband draw up plans. Paul, Garth, my nephews, and two other close friends who had passed the "pod" test would spend Saturday and much of Sunday concocting and pouring the cement foundation, then repurposing the deck wood into walls. I wish I'd taken pictures or videos because it was a little like a barn raising in our back yard.
After a birthday dinner in Rhode Island, Paul happily wrote out a list for all attendants, having us sign up for the tasks we'd take on that didn't involve the shoff. Weeding, raking, sweeping, painting, sorting sheets, moving plants, fixing the stone wall, pruning... the list was big.
By Sunday afternoon, there was a lot crossed off that list, a happy birthday celebrant, and a bunch of tired participants! Next year, I could just head to the store, pick out a present, and bake a cake. (Except the truth is we all had a really good time!)
Happy Slicing,
Melanie
