Wanna Bet

Wanna bet...?

We are nearing the end of week 4 on the house build and things are going according to plan. The exterior is complete, minus a few siding trim details and we are waiting for the overhead garage door to come in. I found out a few days ago it is back ordered and we might be looking at late October before we have it. No worries, there is plenty to do while we wait for it to come in.

With the exterior 98% complete, the focus shifted to interior wall framing on Sunday. It's funny, I’ve been doing this for 30 years and the perception of how big, or small, a house is changes so many times throughout a build. The foundation always looks small. Once the exterior shell is up it seems big and once you hang drywall it gets small again. Nevertheless, the interior walls are all standing and I’ll spend my evenings after work this week tying up loose ends in preparation for mechanical work to start next weekend (wiring, plumbing,etc) .

We are slightly ahead of the official schedule I put out but we’re where I challenged myself to be on Becky’s birthday, 9-12-19something..... I’m smarter than to publish that.

As I was preparing to call it a day this evening, I was surveying the progress and feeling pretty good (and tired) about the gains made this week. I know I have some cushion

built into the timeline but I can’t help but make little bets with myself about where I’ll be at the end of the day, or by lunch, or in the next 30 minutes. Sometimes I swear I spend more time talking myself into a bet then it would have taken to do the task in question. It helps to pass the time and I’m a sucker for a wager.

I remember when Will (Becky’s middle son) was younger. He was and still is very competitive and we would always find ourselves engaged in some type of competition. Everything was a challenge, from playing one on one basketball to who could put the groceries away the fastest. It really didn’t matter to me what the activity was, competition is how Will and I connected, so I was up for anything, and with any competition or challenge, you gotta have some “skin in the game” to make it interesting, so there would always be some type of wager. “Loser sets the table” or Loser takes the trash out”. Never anything major but enough to keep it interesting. It became a running joke that Will believed all our bets were “rigged” and that I always somehow had an advantage to tip the odds in my favor.

I can neither confirm nor deny those allegations.

My ability to turn anything into a competition isn’t exclusive to Will. I love to push myself. For the majority of my life those were physical challenges. A half marathon, a Tough Mudder, an indoor triathlon or an accelerated timeline on a house

build. Each of those examples were accompanied by a wager with someone. For the record, I’ve never LET someone win. I’ve intentionally kept it close but never a handout. I’ve never taken one and I’ll never give one. So if you’ve gotten the better of me, you earned it.

Now that I wear an older man's clothes, I feel the urge (or need) to explore other, less physically demanding outlets for my need to be challenged.

I waved goodbye to beating Will at basketball years ago, but I might still have a hustle or two left in me. The mechanical work, specifically plumbing, is my least favorite part of the process. The internal dialogue will shift from speed to just staying focused. “ I’ll bet ya can’t get the bathroom water lines run without checking your phone” will be a wager I’ll make with myself I’m sure..... I could always go double or nothing on drywall.