150 Days

After my first few days home, I had to have that conversation with my mother about boundaries. If you recall, there were the laundry and the bamboo incidents, which were just a few of the highlights of that first week. For the most part, the notion of boundaries has been well received and the number of infractions against this new constitution have been limited. For example, after stating that the bedroom where my family calls home is now off-limits to my parents, they would leave things outside the door. I would find a piece of mail, or something that was to meant to start a conversation – like a single shoe which represented the subject of walking or dog walking or shoes. When I asked “Why is there a shoe in front of my bedroom door?” they would reply “We walked the dog today and didn’t want to forget to tell you?” or “Is that your shoe? We thought it might be.”

However, there is one thing that continues to infringe upon the boundaries of my space. Every once in a while I notice that someone has been in my room. My folks deny it or have some odd reason that excuses the breach of space. A week ago they had placed a DVD on a bookshelf. It was a compilation of family videos. useful and a great keepsake – but trespassing none the less. Most of the other items that mysteriously find their way onto this bookshelf are useful, old books, a few pennies, the odd piece of laundry. Then there’s the automatic pencil sharpener. The two-inch by three-inch brown, worn out,  pencil sharpener. I’m not sure why it has made it into my room. I’ve been able to make the link between each item left and its purpose except for the pencil sharpener. It isn’t like it’s huge and won’t fit in a normal drawer, or that it belonged to me years ago and now I’m back so it is back as well. I don’t even own a pencil. Perhaps I used pencils a lot when I was a child or my mom wants me to take up drawing. I could just ask, but that would lead to another arduous discussion around boundaries, which is really not worth it in this case. I’m sure I’ll need to save my energy for something of greater significance.
Only 130 days left.

The reason I have the unique fortune of living in my parents home is that I am building a house. Well it’s been almost 20 days  living here and 6 weeks since I sold my home. As of today, there’s not a whole lot of  “building” going on at the lot that I’m apparently going to live at in 131 days.  It has been an unusually warm fall and there are tons of houses flying up all around the neighborhood that I hope to call home someday. I was in the area on the weekend and there were brick layers, framers, and other trades I didn’t even know existed, plowing through on a Saturday afternoon. Its good to see that these people will work weekends to get the job done on time.

Then there’s my house. Not yet a house, or anything more than a cleared parallelogram shaped parcel of land.  When you visit the site, there are literally dusty wind gusts and tumble weeds rolling by, as the houses that have jumped up around it created a microclimate isolated from the neighbourhood standard.

My wife calls our contractor daily. Everyday there is an excuse. Last weekend it was because ‘nobody works weekends’ – so I must have been dilusional when I witnessed a small village constructing the home next to mine.

We have previously built homes, but self-contracted. It has its nightmares, but once you get through one home you know what to expect. This is our first turn-key home. The idea was to be less stressed and allow someone else to manage the process. The problem is that after 4 weeks of silence we’re starting to wonder if in fact anything is being managed. I’m still confident our contractor will build us a house. I’m less confident that I will feel the ecstatic jubilation on day 151 of putting my feet up on my own coffee table in my own family room in a house that is only occupied by me, my wife and my dog.

In the meantime, my wife will continue to call and email our trusted contractor friend. I will continue to pray for sunny weather to eliminate any possibility that the little bastard can use it as an excuse. Here’s to hoping that they dig a whole before 2010.

Only 131 days left (or the increasing possiblity it is actually 291 days)