looking back : winter re-roofing project

i am a project oriented person. driven. for all of my school years, the first day of christmas break, spring break and summer break were sacred. they had one focus: the cleaning of my closet.

but closet cleaning was not my only passion, no, many other projects would be undertaken during these breaks from educational routine.

i was 10 or 11 years old. these years of living with my parents had already molded me into the fore-mentioned driven individual. my brother, trevor, is three years younger, and quite driven as well. he, too, enjoys projects.

so, naturally, over christmas break we decided that we needed to re-roof an old outbuilding that we’d turned into a 19th-century play house. i kid you not, we called it “playing 1812”. at any rate, part of this building’s roof had blown away. we needed to reroof it in order to facilitate quality play-time within.

with this in mind, we donned our winter wear. we convinced trent (6 years younger than i, so age 4 or 5 at the time) that he wanted to join us (whether of not he really wanted to join us was not up for debate).

it was a sunny, though windy, december day. there was a nice layer of sparkling snow on the ground. we collected hammers and our bucket-o-nails, then went out to our beloved 1812 playfort where the scrap plywood we’d found at our grandpa’s and the pile of shingles where.

sometime shortly after we’d hoisted all the supplies up on the roof and commenced in our project, trent decided he was cold.

now keep in mind trevor and i are driven. we are going to work and work until this project is finished- hypothermia or no hypothermia. and today we have this perfect (although chilly) day in which to complete our project! and we have also made the managerial decision that this is to be a group project. a groupie cannot just walk away and forget the project!

so, trevor and i, keeping the budget in mind, hatch an idea. “trent!” trevor yells. “we we’re going to pay you for working with us on this roof!” trent turned around. trevor and i exchanged knowing glances.

trent helped us finish the roof that day. and we did pay him. 

a dime.