And I Call That Work!

I have had a revelation. Yes, I know what you are all thinking about as you read this, “What is this guy talking about.” Well I have had some information revealed to me that has in fact been a real eye opener for me. “What is this information that is so important that he has had revealed to him?” you might ask. Well prepare yourselves. This may come as a revelation to you as well. Ponder what your life was say 15 years ago. Then compare it to what things are like today. This is the important news. You are not as young as you used to be. Maybe you haven't realized it yet as I have. Maybe to make this more correct, I should say that I am not as young as I used to be. How did I receive such a revelation? Read on and you will see.

Some you may have read my wife’s blog referring to the fact that we have been doing some work in the master bedroom and bath. Now, work is the key word here. I go to “work” as I call it 4 days a week, I put in 10 hours and come home. Much of my time is spent talking with students, grading papers, preparing lectures, giving lectures, and other things that teachers do. Yes I call that going to "work" (Kay says this is too easy that I can’t really call it work. Now, I just might be inclined to agree). But after this weekend I think I may have to come up with another way to refer to the activity that I participate in Mon. thru Thurs. Because if that is work, then what I did last weekend has to be something on the order of sheer torture. Or perhaps, more correctly stated, if what I did this weekend is work then, then I am sure lucky for the type or work that I do each week. I just looked up the word work on Dictionary.com. Here is the def. “exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labor; toil.” Well that is what I did this weekend and the word is so well defined.

See, while we have been fixing up the master suite, Kay has done most of the painting, I did paint the ceiling but she painted all of the walls. But On Friday and Saturday, my "days off”, we started laying ceramic tile in the bathroom. Now this bathroom is on the 2nd floor so that necessitated placing concrete board down to prepare the floor for the tile. We laid that on Friday. Friday night, I was exhausted. But little did I know what Saturday was going to have in store for me. We rented a tile saw and at 7 am we started the project of laying the ceramic tile. The saw was outside on the patio. The bathroom is upstairs. There were very few tiles that did not have to be cut. Up and down the stairs, first or all carrying the 70 lb boxes of tile to the upstairs area ( no, don’t bother mentioning to me that if I had left the boxes of tile near the saw, there would have been so many trips carrying up the tile only to bring them down one at a time to cut them.) Well by the end of the day, after what seemed like no less than a thousand trips up and down the stairs, we put the past piece of tile in place, around 7:30 that night. Now here is the revelation. Thirty years ago, that day would have been nothing to me. I have had those days many times in my construction career, that would be BD (before dentistry). But on Saturday night, I could barely move. Sitting down in the chair required more effort than I have exerted in some time. Getting out of the chair, well that was just something else that I don’t even want to think about right now. The last trip upstairs to go to bed was, well, sheer exhaustion. I don’t ever remember being that tired, and sore , and exhausted. There is no doubt at all, I am not nearly as young as I used to be.

But Most of the time I don’t feel any older, just when days like Saturday come along. Then I know for sure; my mind, that sometimes thinks I can do everything now that I could at 20, is just deluding myself.

Now don’t get me wrong. Kay is not a slave driver. We worked together on this project. She was by my side most of the time (well not up and down the stairs quite as many times as I was) but she must be a whole lot younger than I am because she didn’t grunt or groan, or complain about being so sore that she couldn’t get back up the stairs, no not even once. In fact she messaged my back just before we went upstairs. She is quite a woman. But, I fear, she just might be as young as she used to be, but not me. I learned that one for sure this weekend.

Oh by the way. As we were getting ready for church this morning, Kay looked down at the floor we "finished" yesterday, and wouldn't you know it, we missed one very small piece of tile. But there is consolation in knowing that when I do put that piece of tile in, it will be only once up and down the stairs. I should be able to handle that.