ADJUSTING TO CHANGE -Segment 2 (Scroll down for opening segment)     


     Once the kids were grown and out of the house, my wife and I decided it was time to build a new home.  With two heat sources gone, we didn’t think we could survive another winter. 

     We knew it would be an adjustment exchanging water views; from the septic tank to cruise ships passing daily on the horizon.  Then there would be the spectacular sunsets, and the elk grazing nearby.  Like our son said, “It was an adjustment for the Beverly Hillbillies when they moved to Hollywood.”

     The home was our Christmas present to each other after 20 years of challenging “Little House on the Prairie” as the most watched show in town.

 

     I talked about building our new home myself, but my wife said her memories of my remodeling were still fresh in her mind.   “I’m still suffering from flashbacks of a toilet spending the summer in the living room,” she said.  “Oh… and there was that missing molding from Mindy’s bedroom that you used as fascia for the roof.”  She suggested we follow the old Swedish proverb…”If you want something done right, let someone else do it.”

     So we met with a builder and laid out our plans for a new “dream” home.  After going over our plans, he gave us the estimated cost of our “dream.”  It was a nightmare.  We had visions of grasping at loose bills as they swirled around us. 

  

     We decided to trim the “dream.”  After scaling down, we were left with a foundation and a port-a-potty.  I asked how much it would be for an extra porta-a-potty.  The builder laughed.  It was apparent we would have to spend a bit more.        

     We finally came up with a plan.  Then the plan had to be finalized.  This is called the Point of No Return.  It’s where the “real” money is made in building.  Any changes made after a prescribed date means you will need to print more money, or live in the walk-in closet, and rent the remainder of your home to someone who can afford to live there.


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ADJUSTING TO CHANGE - Opening Segment (Scroll down for previous chapters)     


     As I’ve already mentioned in a previous chapter, our family once lived in an old 1930’s farmhouse.  Our children were thankful it was only once.  It was a hands-on experience in pioneering.  They would have preferred reading about it in a history book.  

    The farmhouse provided our family with experiences that would last a lifetime, although we usually hoped they wouldn’t last through the end of the day.  It shaped us into the family we are today…afraid of old farmhouses.  

     I knew there would be challenges, but rugged individualism would pull us through each challenge.  Hopefully, we would find someone with rugged individualism. 

     During the first winter, we stayed warm by fighting for position around the woodstove.  When rugged individualism failed to show, we went in favor of whimpering and whining.  We couldn’t ignore the frost on the sofa.  We were living in an icebox.  Still, we were determined to hang on until our story of survival appeared in Reader’s Digest. 

     The challenges provided excellent opportunities for building character.   It would have been much easier building snowmen. 

     The farmhouse had few modern features.   Actually, I don’t think it had that many.  We were thankful it had running water.

     The kids learned many valuable lessons, which still cause them to suffer from bouts with depression.  They learned how to cut and stack a small forest for the woodstove, our only source of heat.  They also learned how to identify freezer burn on exposed skin; how to identify the different species of birds in the house; how to scrape enough frost off the sofa, to melt and use for bath water, and how to twirl a plunger like a baton.      

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