WIPT trauma

Years ago when I went to lunch with my then housemate we saw a house for sale in Boston. It was a row house. We called the number on the For Sale sign, ate lobster subs, met the seller. When we found out that the house cost around $15,000 we put down a deposit of $300. It is the gray house in the photo. The street is wonderful.

We went home and asked our roommate "Guess what we did today."

He didn't.

We had to fight to get a mortgage although our three combined salaries exceeded the purchase price of the house by almost 4x. One bank said we didn't have enough money. Redlining it was called then. Certain city neighborhoods weren't eligible for loans, but finally we found a bank who gave us the money.

We moved in. The term for a fix-it-upper is handyman's dream.

This was a handyman's nightmare.

We discovered load-bearing beams cut through, multi-coats of paint on marble fireplaces, a dubious heating system, floors where if you put your full weight your legs would dangle to the ceiling below as plaster came crashing down.

Rather than hiring people we did the work ourselves nights and weekends. Nothing moved fast and the years went by. For at least three years my two housemates, my daughter and I lived in two rooms with a German Shepherd, a cat and a Japanese chin while we worked on the rest of the house.

At one point I was on a business trip and as I rested on my bed, I pictured how I was going to strip the paint before realizing the hotel wouldn't like that.

I finally gave up and bought a place where all I had to do was hang curtains. I suspect that is what made me a neat freak where I want things in place. I want my living space to always be orderly...not so orderly that it doesn't have a homey feel but neat never the less.

What has all this got to do with now???

Rick found a great TV table on the way to the trash and we also have less than antique book shelves. Both were ugly wood. He decided to repaint them to go with the black and red of the rest of the living area and as you can see below the TV table does look lovely as I expected it would. And there is something beyond wonderful to have him doing the work.

Truth alert...he is a very neat painter. I can get paint drips in places two rooms away and never figure out how.

He will finish the book shelves in a couple of days but the memories of living on a construction site for years keep coming back with the sight of plastic on the floor, cans of paint and brushes. At least there are no saws, drills, plaster, etc.

Barbara will be coming over with the new drapes for the window heading to the terrace in the next couple of days.

He's found a solution to the skylight baking us and by the end of week, this will all be a memory.

Compared to major illness, death, war and destruction work in progress trauma (WIPT) will not be payable by any health insurance company even the excellent Swiss system.

WIPT is temporary.