For the love of Linda and of painting

After a month of hiking, canoeing, geocaching and essentially waking up most days and following my whimsy, I find myself longing for some routine of late. In fact, as much as people have been joking with me about it, I have come to remind myself that I am, in fact, not retired but on hiatus. So, this past week at about the half-way mark of our Sabbath’s rest, I am trying to establish some measure of routine to my day. After Linda leaves for work, I get up, grab a quick bite to eat, shower and clean up and then spend a good chunk of my morning, journaling, reading and meditating in the Word. The weather has been beautiful which has allowed me to find some space for quiet out in my yard. Following this, I change into my grubbies and take up what is one of the major projects of the summer – painting the trim of the house. It’s slow – painstakingly slow – work and requires a great deal of meticulousness but after four days I may have the north side of the house done today. And if the weather holds, who knows I may have the majority of the work done before we head out on our trip out to D.C. Besides, one thing I have in abundance of is time so I putz my way through my day.

Admittedly, this is a major item on Linda’s “honey-do” list but truthfully, I enjoy the work and am reminded again that by spending five or six hours each day in this manner is in reality a way of loving my wife. When we were young, foreplay was…well…what usually comes to mind when you think of that word. But at mid-life, foreplay is laying in bed with her at night watching the evening news or spending a good part of day with a paintbrush in hand walking up and down a ladder. In ways that I will never understand painting and yard work is an aphrodisiac to a woman whose primary love language is gifts of service. So, I paint away knowing it’s one way I may honor and love her.

At this point of our summer, I feel I have received no new revelation about the Lord or about myself or about my ministry. There have been no “a-ha” moments, no resolutions made or plans laid upon my return. I have enjoyed myself capitally and feel incredibly blessed and fortunate. Due to Linda’s job – a job that originally was only going to last a week – we have plenty of space from each other during the day so that we are not weary of each other’s company. I see her each evening – which is way more than I am wont to see her. Christine is off to work early, Charlie has a certain path that he follows each day and Ed and Emma, spend a good part of their day reading. Last night when I knocked off around 8, we went for a long family walk together ending up down at the beach. The kids jumped on the swings and Linda and I sat on a bench watching the boaters and pontooners and the beautiful sunset God graced us with. Doing stuff like this is on the big, white board in the living room, too.

So, these days I paint and I am content. Yesterday, while working out in the yard, I met a neighbor I had never met before. Joe is a Chicago-native who lives with his lady-friend down the way. He was out for his morning constitution and saw me power-washing the house and stopped by to ask me what solution I was using. Forty-five minutes later, I learned something about Joe’s vocation, his kids, what brought him to Chetek and he learned some things about my garden which he was curious to see. When Linda comes home these days she usually asks me, “How was your day?” and I reply – usually from atop a ladder – “Well, this is it.” It’s not whining. It’s just what it is and what it will be for another few weeks. There are worse ways to spend a summer day and, in my case, few better.