We are a few months into our bathroom/closet remodel project and the timeline seems to be draaaagggggiiiiinnnnnggg. John, our contractor, is making progress, albeit very slow progress. We hire him for these jobs because he does fabulous work. However fabulous work comes at a cost beyond the monetary investment. Sometimes I think he might work in reverse. Almost a Benjamin Button type scenario.
Each night we peek our heads into the room to see if we can notice any progress. This week we started to see some walls come together and dry wall being installed in the new ceiling. Both Jim and I are overly anxious to get this done and have to work very hard to remain patient.
So that got me thinking about patience in general. Basically I think we live in a time where people don't have to be patient anymore. As much as I embrace technology, and trust me I love it, I know it has changed my expectations and perspective. Instant message, Facebook, Twitter, On Demand TV, texting, on line shopping (specifically sites like Open Table, StubHub, Orbitz) etc allow us to essentially get anything we need with a few clicks. I can check my son's grades on a day by day basis instead of the old fashioned way of waiting for the printed report card and maybe a call or note from a teacher mid quarter if things weren't going well. It's a a blessing and a curse because nothing seems to be much of a surprise anymore and anticipation is short lived. For things like our remodeling project we have HGTV where two guys remodel an entire house in an hour. Ok, a little bit longer but they certainly do a lot of work in a short period of time and I, as a viewer, can see the entire project in 60 minutes, including commercials.
All of these modern conveniences have skewed our expectations on how long it takes to complete something. We have come to expect and demand instant gratification and are inundated with resources that feed this need. For someone to say this is going to be a good 6 month project almost seems unacceptable. But in our case it will likely be that, although those words haven't been specifically spoken. It is a ton of work to completely gut and restructure two major rooms in our house.
Another factor that is trying our patience is that we have moved everything from our bathroom and closet into our bedroom. Attempting some sort of organization by using clear plastic crates and a hanging rack we purchased from a clothing store that was going out of business, our room is chaos at best. I want to go work out, ok where did I put that drawer with my workout clothes? I need to dress for a work meeting, let me check out the clothing rack and crawl underneath to fetch some shoes - hopefully two that match.
When we lived in Boston Jim and I often laughed as we walked through a store called Ann and Hope. It was a unique store that had everything from toothbrushes to boogie boards - and it was not uncommon at all to see the two placed right next to each other on the shelf. There seemed to be no organization to the store whatsoever. It seemed to have everything, but good luck finding it. That is now our room - the Midwest version of that goofy store right in our home. I need a Q-tip, oh they are right next to my jewelry, socks and some math flashcards.
On a positive note, when you haul everything out of a space you find things you thought were lost forever, and can take conscious note of things you can clearly do without. (See previous post re: purging).
So I will continue to make a conscious effort to try and remain patient with this project, dreaming about how fabulous it will be once complete. It's worth the wait, it's worth making sure it's done right and that means there's nothing instant about it.
Gotta run, my instant oatmeal is ready.
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