The mural we painstakingly painted in 2010 is now gone!

Yesterday we painted our house.

Today, the house is mostly a neutral gray, the kind of color recommended by our management company so it appeals to the most potential renters.

I expected to be emotional. One of the first things I did when we bought this house was paint. I love bright bold colors. I painted our bedroom blue, one bathroom yellow, another purple. Our kitchen was coral. (it looked better than it sounds). I painted our living areas a lovely gray (the neutral gray that is now our entire house).

Particularly meaningful was our kids rooms. Peter and I had painstakingly painted their rooms when I was pregnant with each of them; blue for Sam and pink for Madeleine.*  They both had detailed murals. I loved painting those for the kids. I prayed for them as I painted and looked forward to their arrival. The thought of painting over the murals was painful. I expected an emotionally hard day.

However the overwhelming emotion I had was gratitude. I like to be self-sufficient. I can do most things myself, and honestly, prefer to do things myself. I don’t like to ask for help. I don’t want to inconvenience people. But we did. We knew we needed help. Even I had to admit, Peter and I could not paint our entire house by ourself in a day.

We asked people to come over, we asked for help. Then it snowed.  A lot of snow. I thought no one would come. Yet, we still had friends come over to paint our home. Friends we know well, friends we know less well, and friends we just made yesterday as they picked up a paintbrush.

So thank you, friends. Thank you for teaching me community. Thank you for making what could have been a very sad day, a joyful day.

Maddy saying one last goodbye to her mural and then helping with the kitchen painting.

*Benjamin has a nook in our room. We got it ready but didn’t paint it.