A FAN, A MAN AND A PLAN

I love Saturdays.  I mean I really, really, really, really love Saturdays.  It's the one day of the week where the pace changes, the routine falls off, the rhythm slows.  Saturdays in this part of my life are quite remarkable.  For instance Saturday we lazed in bed until almost 11 a.m. talking, laughing, reading the paper, drinking coffee - simply being and not rushing off to do something.  Now granted since marrying 7 weeks ago we have gotten almost no projects in the house done.  But, we have enjoyed each other which is far more important:)  Yesterday after rising we decided to put up the ceiling fan we had purchased for the bedroom.  Our house was built in the 1950's and has plastered walls which create depth and richness and solidness with beautiful refinished wood floors throughout.  The bedroom had the original 1950's square recessed light in the ceiling which gave off virtually no light.  This fan installation would be the first "home improvement" project we have done together (other than moving, putting some furniture together, etc.... all of which went grandly).  This would be the ultimate test of our compatibility - working on a project together.  It was not just replacing a regular overhead light with a fan, but a boxed recessed light to a fan.  We like to place the bar high!!  Without any instructions we both seemed to move seamlessly in sync gathering tools, an old towel, the shop vac, ladder, taking the fan out of the box and assembling the blades, laying out the parts.  It was odd.  For 25 years I had to do every home improvement project alone and in the rare event that my first husband was there, I still did them alone so to speak!  There were times during our fan installation that he or I would stop to have fun - a kiss here or there, a laugh, a climb down the ladder for a hug, a bite of pineapple upside down cake and a sip of coffee.  Music played and as we neared the end of the project, I ran downstairs to flip the breaker back on.  When I rounded the top of the basement stairs I said loudly, "Is it working?"  He responded with, "Baby, I'm not turning it on till you are in here.  We will turn it on together!"  And that we did.  We stood and marveled at our work, how fluidly we worked together and really just loving the air moving in the room finally!  Later in the day we went for a walk and while holding hands walking on that beautiful Saturday afternoon, we both said how much we loved working on the project together - how it was relaxing and enjoyable to work in sync like that.  Last night as we laid in bed, lights out with the fan on, we felt like we had not only finally accomplished a home improvement task, but more than that.  We had done it with grace, enjoyability and ease with each other.  Next weekend - grouting the kitchen tile:)