Picking up from yesterday –
As Steve’s talking to me, he says, “Oh, I guess you didn’t get the email.” I ask, “What email?”
He says that the night before he called it off because of the weather. In my head, I yell with eyes wide open – but out loud I just politely remind him, “But I called you this morning. You said it was still happening.”
He said, “Well, you were already on your way. Oh goodness.
So, he set me up in the house with paint so I could paint doors and door jams while he did more work outside, because he had to do things having to do with all the water coming into the area.
He did seem like a very kind mind (even if I had yelled at him in my head). And he gave me a free, dry Habitat for Humanity t-shirt.
So, there you have it. I listened to podcasts about game shows and painted some doors, while still pretty cold because my feet were still wet.
When my shift was over, I fell into a (literally) knee-deep hole of mud outside of the house. (How was there a hole that big?!)
I really didn’t want to spend the money for a cab all the way home, but I was so cold, muddy, and wet. The next train didn’t come for over an hour! So, I just swallowed my pride and common sense and paid to go all the way back to Los Angeles from the San Fernando valley.
Before I even walked into my apartment, I started stripping down in the laundry room on our floor. I wasn’t tracking the mud from my shoes, socks, and pants into my room. Thank goodness nobody walked in on me. I feel like that would’ve been a bit embarrassing. Like, “uh, hey there. Don’t mind me. Just taking off my clothes…”
The next hour involved a lot of cleaning – laundry, shower, trying to salvage shoes – all while trying to keep my apartment free of mud.
The day was exhausting. I was out $100 in cab fare. And the only thing I did in the house was paint some doors… Granted, someone needed to paint them. And at least something got done. But this was a really stark contrast to the Do Good Bus where tons of people helped and a room was transformed.
Working alone really illustrated for me how teamwork makes the dream work.