Somebody to Lean On

Though we have spent many long days alone on the job (especially Kevin who has been completely alone for the past few months since Sue was knocked out of commission), some of those long stretches were punctuated by friends and family who came to lend a hand. Today’s blog post pays tribute to those who have been there for us over the past few months. Here’s a little theme-appropriate background music while you scroll through the post.

We have often mentioned our good neighbor Terry Fuger who has helped with some of the most daunting tasks–such as jacking up the back wall to replace the missing sill plate, removing the roof trusses, hoisting and installing the large picture windows, and manning the saw for the precision cutting of the cement siding (just to name a few)–but we haven’t yet mentioned his wife Jeanne who has loaned him to us when she surely had a honey-do list for him at home. Not only that, she brought us lunch! All summer long Kevin and Sue shared a bag salad every day, but Jeanne brought sandwiches and homemade cookies! And that wasn’t the only time we were treated to her homemade delights. She’s one of those people who always seems to have a little something she just whipped up to share. God has blessed us with good neighbors.

October 2017 Lunch Courtesy of Jeanne Fuger

An earlier post mentioned our friend Mary Vilim who came (with lunch) and pulled nails out of the roof trusses. Well, that wasn’t the last of the Vilims. She came two more times with her husband Rick in tow (and lunch for everyone!) and they installed outlet boxes and ran networking cable all throughout the house. Rick even ventured into the jowls of the attic–spurning his fear of heights–to get that cable into all the rooms. A few weeks later, Rick returned with their son Matthew, ready to do any he-man task Kevin threw at them. We literally needed the huge stack of wood flooring moved from the garage to the living room, so–armed with four-wheeled skids–they hauled and hauled and hauled, until the whole pile was neatly stacked inside. Naturally, all this help freed Kevin up to continue his work, but equally important was the lift it gave our spirits to have the gracious help of friends. AND….they brought lunch!!

The visit by Kevin’s sister Ann Bruni was especially heart warming because we were nearing the time to start painting, and we hate painting more than you can imagine. We dread it, we loathe it, we abhor it, we avoid it, and we stink at it–because we have no practice–because we never do it. And we don’t have any desire to further our skills. We. Just. Don’t. Want. To. Deal. With. It. Enter Ann, who called and said, “I’m coming to paint.” Now we call her Saint Ann. Even when she arrived and we weren’t quite ready, she said, “No problem. What do you want me to do?” So she found herself covered in drywall dust as she jumped right into the dirty, tedious task of sanding ceiling drywall. She sanded and sanded and sanded, and then she dusted, and THEN she started priming. Having the moral support and an enthusiastic companion gave Kevin the strength to grab a roller and slap some primer on the ceilings and walls along side her–enough to finish the master bedroom, walk-through closet, and bathroom. Bam! We felt like we had turned a corner.

We’ve also mentioned our friends Dave and Sandy Cook before, and they’ve been back again–multiple times. They have graciously helped sand drywall, prime, and paint. Now that you know how we feel about painting, you can only imagine how much we love hearing them say they just love to paint ceilings and do edging. We would say they were crazy if we didn’t know them better, but we know them very well and they are solid, stable, wonderful people. We will never understand how they can enjoy painting, but boy are we glad they do!

As it turns out, a lot of people apparently like to paint–like our daughter-in-law JulieAnne and her friends the Colberts. You read that right: Our son and his wife, Micah and JulieAnne Colbert, have friends–who are no relation at all–named Aaron and Jenni Colbert. Imagine that–six Colberts in the house! They came out for a weekend, and the guys worked on the first floor dry wall–mudding and sanding–while the girls headed upstairs to put color on the walls. Even Jenni’s daughter Sophie got in on the act. Then the guys, with the help of David Cook, hauled a very heavy cast iron bathtub upstairs. Which begs the question: How many Colberts does it take to haul a bathtub?

Finally, our “thank you helpers” post would not be complete without mentioning by far the cutest helper of them all, our grandson Shep–who received his own little pouch and tool set for Christmas. He loves to help Grandpa, and boy does he lift our spirits. Thank you Shep for all your help and for brightening our day!

So, thank you friends and family. Thanks for your talents and skills. Thanks for your enthusiasm and encouragement. Thanks for your time. And most of all, thanks for lunch!