Doug's Blog
Blog 9 - The Week the Women Went
Ok, it is day 6 into this Week the Women Went social experiment engineered by Paperny Films and financed by CBC. The girls are in Canmore still and will be back tomorrow sometime in the mid-afternoon. I am doing well I have to say.
Austin and I spent the morning outside doing all of the yard work that needed to get done and then for the afternoon we went down on mainstreet and worked on our 'pocket park' with Wayne, Robert, Brian and a lovely young lady of 9 years whose name I never got. We put up the fence and cut all the boards for all three pocket parks. We went over to Brian's and had beer and pizza and went back to work right away where Shawn joined us in finishing up the fence and planting all of the trees, shrubs and flowers.
Today marked the first day that I actually got to spend a lot of meaningful time out there working. Either Austin was ill, or when we had a two hour window between eating, napping or playing it was either too hot or too cold or no one was there.
We got back here about 8pm and Austin had a bath, played for about 10 minutes and went to bed. He was worn out from all of the running and playing and working. He wanted to help everywhere. He carried around my drill for me and help me dig holes for the trees. It was grand!
Sue will be sorry she was gone, but will understand what I go through now when I have to leave to go to work for a few days at a time. He is saying so many more words and is such a help around the house. He now brushes his teeth at the sink like I do . . . he even turns on the water, rinses his brush and tries to spit, though it is more like a little kissing sound than any real spit.
This week has been great for Austin and I to spend a lot, and I mean, a lot, of time together. The team is coming over tonight to do an 'exit' interview since the girls are coming back tomorrow. I am sure they are going to ask me if this has changed Sue's and my relationship any. The answer is no.
I couldn't love Sue more than I did before, we couldn't be closer now than before she left, and nothing really has changed except that I can now do her job with reasonable confidence, and we have a deeper appreciation for each other's circumstances. No, that isn't right. We always appreciated each other, we just have a more first hand understanding now.
So, I will post one more time tomorrow and than that will be it. It will be back to work for a few days and then off to Guatemala to build houses for some very deserving and worthy souls. Life is grand.
