Thank God for Tile Work

I had quite a weekend as I paid my pentence to God while tiling my father's bedroom floor. I use home improvements to get my frustration out, get in a great workout, lose some excess weight and interact with friends and family. To me, the torture of the work is used as time to reflect on the good and not so good in life.

I believe any endeavor gives us an opportunity to tune inwardly. I found my thoughts this weekend were dominated by the passing of Ernie Sr. At a time I didn't trust anybody over age thirty, Ernie entered my life and showed me love, admiration, and fun. This guy was a hoot and I will never forget him. We watched Kraftwerk play at the Santa Monica Civic. My father would never go to watch a German Band crank out Synthesized music. He was like a little kid - as always - loving every minute of the show.

My thoughts meandered on my dad's life and how his house is finally looking not only improved, but Cosmopolitan. Yep, with the tile now in every room and the new coat of paint on some of the walls is perking the place up. I remember when my dad lived in a two bedroom apartment in the San Fernando Valley with a bunch of kids, the heat, and neighbors who tortured cats constantly. How great is it that he has his own place now and I have the honor of fixing it up. In three weekends the tile is finally finished and the next projects are: bamboo flooring in the living room - which should be easy, a concrete extention to the front of the house - which is going to be horrible if it is hot. Sixty bags of concrete? I'll start out with twenty and go from there. Too bad I can't bring the mixer from the desert. Maybe my dad will step out and rent a mixer? Oh please God that would be a dream. Then the final project is doing something with the weeds in the back yard. I think dad wants to put up a wooden awning. I look forward to this - but doing it by myself will be difficult - like 90% of the tile was.

Now I am regaining my strength. I am reminded of the times coming of hallucinogens and burning out for days. The recovery process feels like this, but I do sleep like a baby at night. I wonder, as I age, how much longer I can do this stuff. I watched a home improvement show this morning and saw a group of guys in their twenties build an upper deck to their home. For twenty consecutive weekends these guys were sawing, hammering, hauling, and exhausted to the point of wanting to give up. I laughed. I know how they feel and I am thirty years older than they are and still doing it. Thank you God for giving me this body.

Ernie you will be missed, you came into my life at a time I needed you most. I will never forget the fact that you showed me people were simply people and age was just a friggin number. I just hope I can match the amount of joy you had in your life. You were taken away from all of us much too soon. Please God, keep a special place for this teacher of mine.