It’s Sunday afternoon, we’ve been to church and had a good meat and potatoes dinner, and I finally feel like I have a few minutes to sit and reflect on the events of last week.
But first - let me see if I can put the conference in context. Let’s start with the few days leading up to it. For those not playing along at home let me refer you to this post wherein I tell the story of how our only car went on the fritz two days before having to leave for the conference. In that post I also mentioned having our master bath worked on while gone and how it would be done by the time we got home”‘barring any issues lurking under the floor”.
Jumping to the few days since getting home from EECI now - you’ll not be surprised to hear that issues were indeed lurking:
A slow water leak has damaged the bathroom floor. Our hopes were that it was minimal but it’s looking probable at this point that the tub will have to come out (with a sledgehammer) so that the floor issues can be dealt with correctly. While most of the house projects have been DIY affairs this one we hired out in hopes of it being less of a hassle. Now we’re on someone else’s schedule - and it won’t be done for a while.
While we’ve got a nice 5th wheel trailer sitting in the driveway with a bathroom and shower, I don’t yet have the truck to pull it with. This means we can’t use the facilities in it since I won’t be able to pull it somewhere to empty the waste storage tanks. The upshot is that this is now our showering facility - thank goodness for a fully fenced in backyard:
The master bath is in a location where it’s impacting us more than just not having an indoor shower - it’s also next to our (freshly repainted) master bedroom. The access to the bath plumbing is through the closet - which means the dust and mess have passageway into the bedroom. At this point it’s just easier to cover everything up and not use it:
MsBoyink and I are now sleeping in the trailer in the driveway - and I’ve moved my clothes out there so at least I can get dressed in one place.
The master bath is also directly over my office - so I’ll only be able to use it when the contractor isn’t here, otherwise I’ll be subjected to a shower of drywall dust and debris. I do have enough leash on all connections to at least be able to use my desk when he’s not here:
The contractor has also taken over my workshop with supplies:
Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to be a bit of a fussbudget about my work environments - I just can’t work in a mess. My garage usually has everything organized and in it’s place with workbenches left empty. My office is the same way - no clutter or stacks of paper. I do make messes but they always get cleaned up first thing.
My need for organization is so bad that—in that pic above? That’s after I straightened up the supplies just to get them more organized. It’s not even my project and I can’t help it…
So my office is out of whack, my workshop is out of whack, we’re showering in the back yard, the house is in general disarray, we’re on someone else’s schedule and still using a borrowed car.
And the interesting thing?
I’m OK with it.
Oh - I’d rather this mess all go away so I could get settled back into life. But underlying that immediate frustration is just a sense of calm and peace. And even - oddly - a bit of excitement.
There’s a couple of reasons why.
First - it’s hard to be upset with things after coming back from the ExpressionEngine & CodeIgniter Conference that took place in San Francisco. Prepping for both a 8 hour class and an hour-ish presentation took a lot of time - but once we got there I really wasn’t that stressed. I mentioned to a couple of people that for me it was less a conference than it was a family reunion. I got to hang out in person with many of the folks I hang out with online. I got to see several former Train-ee students who continue to crank out EE based sites and be involved in the community, and even now giving back. I had some great conversations that should prove to be the genesis of some cool EE-oriented “stuff” down the road. I had a number of people seek me out to tell me how Train-ee had helped them learn EE. The class and presentation seemed well-received.
I came home with this overwhelming sense of “rightness” - in that I feel like I’m in the exact place in life that God wants me to be in, doing the work I’m designed to do, with people I respect, providing value to others, using software I love from a company staffed with people I consider friends.
And somehow, miraculously, getting paid for it.
Considering all this—it’s hard to be too upset with a bathroom remodel gone bad.
And then - there’s our roadtrip plans. It continues to amaze me the amount of interest this trip has gathered. MsBoyink and I joked that we should have had T-shirts made that said:
- September
- Someone will be living there
- We homeschool
- Still being planned
- Some client work but some training events as well
But - aside from the interest in the trip and the ties to the EE community that it will have, it struck me today that—these obstacles at home? These are training runs. We’re being tested to see how we - as a family - handle challenges being tossed at us from every angle. Anything that we depended on and took for granted is being taken away or reshuffled and we get to practice responding. And—we get to practice while still having the safety of a house, a stable internet connection, beds to sleep in, and friends/family close by.
So - I’m taking a deep breath, remaining calm, and welcoming the coming week with a bit of excitement about figuring out how to get through it. We asked for adventure and we’re getting it. Already - without leaving home.
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Bob Monsour on June 06, 2010
Andy Johnson on June 06, 2010
Boyink (Author) on June 07, 2010