The magic and mystery of finishing a project 🎉
When we bought our house last June, the interior had been recently remodeled but the yard was a bit of a mess, the back edge of the property lined with brush and bramble. A sort of living fence, except the chaos had begun to creep forward, threatening to overtake our chicken coop and blocking our view of the beautiful live oaks that soared over the yard.
And so, last week, we decided to build a fence. The timing was perfect. My husband just finished his first semester of PA school and had a week off, but we couldn't exactly go anywhere to celebrate. I’ve been working in my home office for two months, in front of a window that faces the backyard, and I was desperate for a change of scenery - not to mention a project. We got a little bump in our bank account, thanks to COVID-19, and it was our duty to help stimulate the economy. Clearly, it was time to tackle the fence.
As it turns out, building a fence is a lot like writing a novel. You’ve seen plenty of fences, you recognize the various pieces, and you understand, intellectually, the mechanisms that hold it all together. But when you try to build your own from a pile of wood and concrete and nails, well, you uncover a lot that the fence in its final form does not reveal. The brush took three days to clear. The post holes had to be shifted because of massive roots. The ground was uneven, which meant the pickets had to be cut, which required so much math and measuring. Our little two day project spiraled and slowly ate away at the week, our evenings spent sweating under the setting sun while the chickens cocked their heads and the dog slept in a fresh pile of dirt.
The trick to building a fence, I eventually realized, is the same for writing a novel or running a marathon or baking the perfect loaf of sourdough or any big, audacious project. A single step at a time. For example, when we began the brush felt endless, especially as we dragged massive piles of branches to the curb. But we kept hacking and digging, clearing the area section by section, and eventually, just like that, it was gone. I would have thought it was magic if I hadn’t done it myself.
Part of what makes things beautiful is how effortless they seem. The novel you can’t put down. A meal with flavors exquisitely balanced. A fence that stands tall and straight. But once you’ve stared at the raw materials and put in the work, you know what it took to get from start to finish. A good reminder that everything felt impossible once. 💛
Plant of the Week
I desperately need some new snacks in my life, so let's celebrate my newest plant instead. During one of my husband's many trips to the hardware store this week, he came home with nails, pickets, cement, and this gorgeous rubber plant - clearly an essential purchase! This guy is in the same family as the ubiquitous fiddle leaf fig, but is supposed to be less finicky. Let's hope the experts are right, because I can't handle two drama queens.
Relatable Reads
The Life I Have, The Bitter Southerner. "Every morning, I can’t help but check to see if there are any over-zealous seedlings, the way I check my own body for the signs of life I’ve seen and sensed only on the ultrasound screen, or in the steady heartbeat I hear, whirring, as the doppler sweeps across my skin." 🌱
Fuck the Bread. The Bread is Over. The Paris Review. "The new world order is rearranging itself on the planet and settling in. Our touchstone is changing color. Our criteria for earning a life, a living, is mutating like a virus that wants badly to stay alive." 🍞
Work From Home is Here to Stay, The Atlantic. Most days, I feel so grateful to still have a steady income that I haven't thought too much about the benefits of working from home. As we enter month THREE, I am starting to appreciate the perks, even though I very much miss my coworkers and the energy of our office. 🏠
A Tiny Challenge
Start something new, or finish something old. If you really want to challenge yourself, do both in the same day.
See you next Sunday! 💌
Coffee Club
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