I'm on vacation, ha! Not only vacation but a fast running week headed towards a walk through by the buyers of my home Sunday afternoon.
The impact of this move started getting to me as I began cleaning out my woodworking studio. I looked at that pile of cherry and walnut with a few boards of maple and quite a few quarter sawn oak boards. There are the boards I had sawn and planed for a bathroom table-sink sitting on my work bench, a gift, an unrequited one at that. I started thinking about when, if ever, I'd get back to woodworking again. The import and implication of this choice is really unsettling now.
Last night I learned a few Hebrew letters, aelph, beh, gimmel, dalet, hey. I ran through several pages printing the letters out. It's really hard to go from alphabet to words. It's fascinating though. No articles, all capital letters. Words are not written like they are supposed to be with the funny symbolic annotatios because Hebrew readers know the meaning in context.
Then I received an e-mail from Pearlington about one of our dear clients and a call about one of the work site staff who has an "inexplicable" charge on his credit card. It turned out we had bought two handicapped shower stall inserts for a couple of clients in Gulfport and he'd lost his receipts.
One of the clients is blind. I was at his house when we removed his tub. Someone had installed a "jacuzzi tub" but hadn't leveled it properly or connected the electrical hook up to the pump properly.
I knocked at the door. No answer. After a while I got a call from the work site manager - he said go on in, the client had just gotten back from dialysis and was resting, he knows we are coming.
I hesitantly opened the door and heard his voice, "Is that the PDA people? If you are come on in."
"Yes that's who we are," I replied as i opened the door and edged in. He was lying on the bed, obviously very tired.
"You'll have to forgive me for not getting up. That dialysis really takes it out of me. I've got to rest a while, you all just go on in."
"Ok Mr. Jefferson, I'll just take a look at the bathroom."
"Just don't move anything in the bdroom, ok?"
It was awkward trying to work and not disturb Mr. Jefferson. As we pulled out the shower, we found a lot of water had leaked behind the tub since the contractor hadn't leveled the tub so it wouldn't rock; and he had just run a line of caulk along the bath-wall line. The first time someone stepped in the tub that seal broke. The result? A lot of mold in the wall behind the tub.
We had to tape a plastic sheet over the the bathroom door so all the mold we scraped didn't get into the bedroom. It was hard because we had to pass through the bedroom to get out of the house. We managed it, then treated the wall with bleach.
The next day we came back. After knocking, Mr. Jefffeson hailed us in. He was on his hands and knees feeling round underneath the bed for his shoes.
He reached under the bed and pulled out a leather dress shoe, "This isn't it. "
"Can I help?" I asked.
"No, I'm trying to find my other white tennis shoe. It is supposed to be here under the bed." He leaned over and reached further under the bed.
About that time a horn honked out in the driveway.
"Oh that's my taxi. He's supposed to take me to work. I'vegot to find that other shoe."
At a knock at the door, Mr. Jefferson says,"Come on in, Ralph."
Ralph, the taxi driver asked, "Are you ready?"
"No, not yet. Just a minute until I find that shoe."
I start looking under the bed. I can see a couple of atheletic shoes but none of them match the one in Mr. Jefferson's hand. It isn't there. I look in the closet behind him. Mr Jefferson sits in the floor feeling a couple more shoes, shaking his head negatively.
"I know that shoe is here, someone must have moved it.
"Mr. Jeffeson, I don't see the match in the closet or under the bed."
"Well, I'll just use another pair. Do you see the match for this one?" he asks as he holds up another shoe.
"Yes, I see it behind you in the door to the closet."
He leans over and rubs his hand on the carpet until he touches it."
"Great! I'll be there in a minute Ralph."
"Take your time," Ralph replies.
In a few minutes Mr. Jefferson walks out of the bedroom unaided to the taxi and heads to work.
We finish our work, priming the wood with a strong primer and carefully take all our stuffed trash bags out to the driveway. Now all we have to do is wait on that special order shower insert to show up.
I wonder, are we doing any better job finding our way with our work in Mississippi than Mr. Jefferson is with his? We see but do not perceive.
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