On Home Repairs & Putting Things In Perspective

We’re on our way to having the two-foot hole in our ceiling fixed.

The other day, while seated peacefully at the computer, I heard a horrible noise above our living room. My husband had been performing some home improvement work in the attic, when he stepped on a temporary flooring board, which broke, sending his foot down through the drywall. So what had been a simple, small project blossomed into a larger one. The repair began today with dismantling and removing a ceiling fan near the hole, and starting removal of the broken drywall.

Our pets, already traumatized by the original noise and the sight of their man-friend’s foot and leg protruding unexpectedly through the ceiling, grew frantic today over the repairs. It’s a small house so there’s not really any escaping this. The cat darted around for several minutes, but finally settled in wide-eyed distress on the sofa. Whenever a power tool operated, the dog had to sit close enough to touch me the entire time. He jumped up at every new noise, nudging me for further reassurance. There’s not really enough room at my little work cubicle for a tall, plump woman and a 90-pound dog. Meanwhile I tried to do my own work and help with the repair work at odd intervals.

I’d had a nice long walk this morning, so I remained pretty relaxed through it all. I even finished the detailed outline of my work in progress, as I’d planned to do today, so I can begin work on the second draft tomorrow.

Another bright side to this, besides managing to work through it, is that I live in Southern California rather than the part of Florida where the hurricanes hit hardest. And in that moment of the event, when I saw my loved one’s foot sticking through our ceiling, and I didn’t know what to do about it, I had a tiny glimmer of an inkling of what it must be like to find your entire house in that state and not know what to do. We still have a roof over our heads, running water, power, a home. Much to be grateful for. This perspective makes a two-foot hole in the ceiling seem miniscule.