Memory lane

Yesterday I started to redo the very first house project I completed when we bought our house. It was a small project of scraping and painting around our front door entranceway. It was primarily a cosmetic job, but it really helped with the curb appeal. We live near the coast, and the elements and salt air have a tendency to bully anything made of wood. Our house his mostly stone-faced, but our entranceway’s little mudroom is mainly made of wood and protrudes out from the rest of the house. It is a perfect target for storms, and recently there have been a lot of them. It has been about 10 years of these assaults, and its time for some repair and repaint.

I was new to home ownership back then and admittedly a bit of a novice. Examining my old repairs, I probably didn’t do the prep work I should have done or at least to the level that would ensure the paint would last longer. Yesterday, I spent most of the day scrapping and thinking back to when I had done the work the first time. I met some new neighbors that day as they stopped by to introduce themselves to this newcomer to the neighborhood. I didn’t really place much significance on the work at the time, it was just the first in a long list of projects, but it was a special day. My wife came out with a pan of instant noodles, and we ate on our front step covered in paint chips. It was our first meal in the house, and the picture from that day sits in our living room as a reminder of how far we’ve come.

I couldn’t help draw comparisons to editing Vril, the first novel I completed. I’ve been working 5 hours a day trying to get it ready to join Island of Stone on Amazon. Like the house project, Vril was hard work, but I was so satisfied when it was finished, thought it looked pretty good and was eager to share my work. Skip ahead years later and redoing the work, I began to see that although it was a decent job, it could have been better. I’ve learned much over the last decade. Now, it seems like an excellent time to put a new coat of paint on the house and the book. This time I will do a better job utilizing all that I’ve learned over the years. Those neighbors will pass by and say hi and when finished I will stand back and feel satisfied until another ten years changes my purview.

Happy Easter!