That is me today! King Louie holding up the temple. And I probably would have remained King Louie had it not been for my friends and neighbors.
Last week we got approval to do extensive renovation in our house. We bought a fixer upper 3 years ago. It took us a year to fix and sell our old house. Another year to recover from that exercise. So last year we started the process of planning and getting approvals. Finally last week we got the permit from the city to start renovation. Husband had lined up all the subcontractors. The plan was to get it started so that the major part of foundation work will be done by the time kids come back from vacation it will not be a hazard for them. While I go and come back from vacation one week before Husband. Plans have a way of flipping on you. For various reasons I could not go on vacation, getting the permits was delayed, kids went on vacation and Husband went on vacation. Then started the demolition work.
I got a room with a view and a hurdle race. This is after I spent days trying to cram everything from house into a storage space, wreck room shed, a closet that is not supposed to be touched (according to plans). This all coincided with heat wave….what can I say...I just lucked out!
We were supposed to stay in this master bedroom during the construction. This one room and two bathrooms were not supposed to be touched. At least that was the plan. Today first the foundation guy says that on opening up the floor, he found it was not as in the plans, so he has to dig up the corridor to get access to subfloor, he cannot just cut half of it. There goes the access to the bedroom. Furious consultation led to ...its ok, the foundation will be done in 3 weeks...manageable. Then comes the framing guy. In four weeks time he has to pull out the window from the master bedroom, put in support for building the floor above. The sheet rock on the walls will not be covered until it’s inspected, the inspection will be done as a whole, so it will take about 3 months to close it.
So in 30 mins this morning, I went from living in a master bedroom surrounded by construction on all sides to becoming King Louie!
In my head I could see my brain whirring like a pinwheel made of reflectors. While I drove to work, I knew I would have to cross a hurdle race to get to the bedroom.I don’t know where I will find living space for next 4 months. Should I look for short term rentals? How will I get all the stuff out of the room, with a trench in front of the only door to it?
I text my husband to give the update. He asked me for details and I said : call me I am driving. It a took a few minutes for him to get through. In meantime, I call my neighbor S2 and talk. She reassures me of help. I talk to my husband, after listening to the status update he thinks the cost is escalating and we should stop right here and reevaluated. I tell him I have heard of no escalation in cost and I have not come with a problem without a plan B or plan C or plan Z. I told him about help from neighbor S2. I come into work and text the other neighbor S1, who immediately offered help, whatever I needed. S2 calls me a few minutes later, she spoke to her husband and offered me additional bedroom with bathroom too. S1 texts we should talk in the evening.
Now I tie my narrative to the title. There is a concept out there that women talk a lot. A few years ago my son parroted the same line, about me talking too much with my friends. It forced me to think and analyze. My report back to my son was that, maybe women talk, but it has a purpose. Through our conversation we build highways of communication. Much like the veins in a leaf, we build strong bonds. It is with these strong bonds we hold together the fabric of society. A ripple in one vein activates many other veins. All that talking, all these years and we solved the problem of my homelessness in 90 mins. This is just one example, I can find many more such instances in my life. I am pretty sure every woman will find many such examples in their lives.
Growing up I trained myself to be strong-silent-like-man. It’s only as an adult I found the true power of talk-like-a-woman and did a lot of unlearning! To all the talking women in my life, you are the true Wonder Woman.