The "Sweetness" of "Labor" Days

A long time ago I read that "... waiting makes the blessing sweeter when it arrives." Sorry, but I've focused too many times on the "... when it arrives...." part, and missed the "sweeter" part. I need to remind myself because I know it's true!

I talked to each of our daughters last week, and heard amazing things in their voices. I heard insight, maturity, peace, and patience. The oldest just turned 29! WOW! A lot happens in 29 years! I'm seeing a lot of "sweetness" flow from my girls as I watch them deal with life: the "sweetness" of wisdom, grace, and patience.

We've slept in our "new" bedroom for 3 nights now. Oooooohhhhhh! How thankful we are for our bed, for space, for access to our clothes once again. We've yet to wipe the construction dust and dead spiders from our new bathrooms and use them -- but the view is inspiring! Wow! We're so very thankful for abilities, friends, and funding to rebuild.

I wonder if I'd have appreciated the gift of the remodel as much if it had come in a painfree month's time away from home. Would I have missed my queen bed as much had I not spent 3 months with Larry's bony elbows in my sides each night? Would I have longed for order as desperately had I not been prisoner to disorder? Thank goodness, the busy-ness of summer took us away from our mess more times than we thought we liked, but maybe that was my emotional anesthesia for the pain of the labor.

Still lots to do. Saturday was consumed with assembling a file cabinet. I am a "designer" but not a "manual follower", and I can't count how many times I realized I'd missed a step in the instructions as I jumped from picture to picture. The job took a looooonngg time for me to complete. I screwed in the bottom coasters 3 times: 1st to install, 2nd when I realized I had the back on the front, and 3rd when I realized I had the back of the cabinet facing the front -- and the drawers wouldn't close.

Sunday was a day of fun, after 3 weeks of painting walls, trim, and nailholes, and focusing, focusing, focusing on a labor driving me crazy! We looked for bookshelves all over town, went to a movie (half an hour early, and gorged ourselves with the popcorn refill!), then came home still enjoying respite from focusing on labor.

Today I must first do some basic laundry and cleaning, then I want to continue installing doorknobs and covering nail holes. I need to paint new doors, unpack and organize our endless "stuff". And sometime peek at life outside the remodel, to see how I reconnect survival at home with survival in the wild.

Larry will get back to a paper that must come together before the end of the month. I must remember to anticipate the sweetness of its completion! I must remember to anticipate the sweetness of many tomorrows.

Last night's "Extreme Home Makeover" focused on people with disabilities. The line that grabbed me was "... focusing on possibilities rather than problems." WOW! I need that!

Life seems full of waiting. While I'm waiting, I'm going to focus on the "sweetness".