A small ‘Texas’-plated SUV pulled up to Miss Mary’s house, and out jumped five Canadians…wha? eh!? John, Tommy, Mariah, and Marlyse. The four students fundraised their way from Ontario to New Orleans, (texas plates cuz it was a rental) and were accompanied by their Electrical Tech teacher (and certified electrician), Keith.
My experiences in the finishing stages of a house are minimal…or you might say nonexistent. Yet, I have the eyes of Johnnie overseeing me, and a plethora of ‘directions’ printed on the labels of grout bags, adhesive buckets, closet door packages, etc… ok, truth be told, I’m not real great about actually reading those things.
It’s tough. Probably these past few weeks of leading volunteers with such a minute amount of experience has been some of the most challenging and humbling times of my life (in the workforce at least).
Mariah & Marlyse grouting the shower
This Canadian group said they were skilled…mmhmm alright, “cool, but let me show you a few things”…All 5 of them stood over my shoulder as I explained how to knock the laminate flooring pieces together. They were nodding their heads, saying ‘ok’ and ‘mmmhmm’, and smiling. I smiled back, happy to be showing off my mad laminate floor installation skillz.
The whirlwind of The “A” Team (self-proclaimed, but I agree!) that followed, had the entire kitchen floored, and the bathroom tile completed. Keith had all kinds of tricks up his sleeve, with many years of experience in construction, and with great leadership skills. Monday and Tuesday I came to the realization that I’d be swallowing my pride for the week, and humbling myself to also ask Keith for suggestions on how to do a number of projects at the house – from tiling and grouting the shower, to soaking up his knowledge about different ways to cut molding. I think I taught him something during the week… I think…I hope?
John, Tommy, and Keith
So, unlike any other week, I let my strings loose a little, and Keith and the High Schoolers semi-lead themselves. To be honest, it was hard to let go of that leadership, but also, to be honest, it was pretty freakin amazing… because my MOM also came to volunteer on Tuesday, and due to the Canadians’ independence, I was able to spend a decent amount of time working next to her on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
My mom is no pansy. She’s taken care of our 55 acre horse & turkey farm for 30 years. She shovels poop like a pro, she can fix a fence waaaay faster than I can, and if a barn needs painted, she’ll paint it all night if she gets it in her mind. Procrastination is not in her blood (seriously, at all.), and neither is relaxing. So she wore me out.
My mom had never been to New Orleans. Living the life of a farmer leaves little room for travel. So we hit the highlights – Pat O’Briens, Café Dumonde, The Spotted Cat Music Club, a Haunted History Tour, and a cruise through the Garden District, The Marigny, and Bywater. The evening jaunts were fun, but during the day we worked our butts off, and there was no telling my mom that we should go home before finishing tiling the bathroom… ooooh no, we were gonna finish that sucker – and we did – at 6:00 on Wednesday night. I’d like to think I have a great work ethic, but nothing compares to either of my parents, and I’m constantly amazed and a little freaked out by the amount of work they get done every day.
Me n' my mama on our Haunted History tour
The week flew by! - a GREAT week. My mom headed out early Friday morning, and the Canadians finished up all the flooring, and the shoe-mold, and all the ELECTRICAL work by Friday evening. The four high schoolers were installing fans, outlet boxes, switches, lights, smoke alarms…. It was incredible! Their school is very technically-oriented, and the kids go through some intense classes and training. The place looked great when they left, and I knew I’d miss those accents.
I was a little skeptical about how Saturday would go. Insulation. Itchy, stuffy, poofy, UNDER house insulation. Every volunteer group that knew about this future endeavor would look at me with a crooked smile, a wrinkled forehead, and go “oooh. Fun.” How was I to turn those expressions into shouts of ‘hoorah!’?
The answer, was Suits. Beautiful, white, full bodied, footed, hooded, suits. They were gorgeous. And It was Halloween weekend- what better way to celebrate than to be wearing a full-white costume and be crawling around in the soft dirt under Mary’s house? Pretty creepy, right? Nevermind the occasional rock or the cigarette butts, or the carelessly thrown jigsaw blade you might find while scootching around.
“We get to wear THESE!” I exclaimed with an oversized grin- and it worked… my volunteers realized the necessity of the job, and welcomed the excitement of doing something out-of-the-ordinary, while looking…well, extraordinary! Suits, it is. And they each stepped into their garb for the day.
Hey David & Anna, whatcha dooooin?
David & Anna are married and met at a University here in New Orleans, and Anna’s sister, Moni, is now studying in NOLA as well. Both Anna & Moni grew up in Mexico. Jessica is from Slidell, and works for the World Trade Center in the city. All four of them love New Orleans, and felt the need to contribute to a city that has been so good to them…a reason to volunteer that I love and respect – which is why I need to volunteer more while I’m at home in PA.
Jessica & Moni gettin' things done
These guys kicked butt, and by 2:00 we had already insulated the entire underside of the house, and had TYVEK’ed over 1/3 of the house. Jessica stayed an extra 2 hours, and helped me clean the bathroom that I had stained with red grout sediment .
So, by Saturday, we had really knocked out a lot of things at Miss Mary’s house. The only thing left is the “punchlist” stage of construction. Bring it ON!
No comments:
Post a Comment