Life in Rehab

I’ve become addicted to the show Intervention on A&E.  It airs on Friday nights when the kids are in bed and the dishes are washed and I’m frankly too wiped out to do much of anything productive like, say paint some window trim. The show chronicles the story of an addict each week – the history (complete with baby pictures and family reflections on the super star their son/daughter/sibling/cousin could have been), how the addiction escalated, and the inevitably scary conditions the addict currently lives in. 

The program culminates in an intervention that typically takes place in a hotel conference room with family members reading from written letters where they profess the disappointment, regret, and (sometimes tough) love they feel towards the interventee.  Then each of the family members and intervention guide asks whether the addict will receive the help that is being offered them today.  I’ve seen roughly 8-9 of these episodes and pretty much all of the addicts respond positively to the invitation of being flown off to a Rehab facility expressly chosen just for them where they can focus on recovery and reclaiming their lives.  At the end of the show the newly recovered addict is shown looking significantly healthier and happier and positive about their future lives.

Now I will tread lightly here.  In making a parallel between rehabilitation from drug addiction and rehabbing a house, I do not in any way mean to make light of the excruciatingly difficult work involved in trying to live life sober. Often in the epilogue, there are mentions to the fact that a given addict may have slipped once or twice back into their old ways when being forced to face real life with real stressors (jobs, families, social triggers, etc). 

That said, I do think that the intensity and focus of drug rehabilitation allows the addict to get on their feet much more quickly than say trying to get a room painted, which we have been trying to do for 2 weekends running.  I put the blame on our real life stressors (2 small children and the start of the new football season).

I always wait in anticipation for the latest copy of Dwell magazine where they often feature stories of renovation.  I marvel at the before and after shots – how satisfying to see them side by side as though the rehabilitation happened with the snap of someone’s fingers.  I know this is not how it really works.  In a recent issue, the magazine reported on the story of D.J. Andreas Stevens and his painstaking renovation of a 1957 Edward Killingsworth home on Naples Island near Long Beach California.  In the story, Stevens talks about what it took in order to tackle the project.

“I gave up my regular life for a couple of years,” Stevens admits. The project bordered on obsession. In addition to refurbishing the structure, he went to untold lengths to find original fixtures and match finished surfaces. He found the original outdoor lights on a nearby motel that was being torn down. After a year and a half of searching, he found the original electric stove, an in-wall push-button model, in a house that was being razed in Walla Walla, Washington. What he couldn’t find, such as 42 matching white Nelson pulls for the kitchen cabinets, he had made. A fragment of the original bathroom tile turned up in the backyard, and Stevens was then able to match the original color.

So Stevens spent the better part of 6 years (he originally purchased the home in 2001 and set to work on it in 2003) getting the house back to pristine condition.  And he was definitely starting from square one.  He mentions having to deal with termites and dry rot.  Now I knew getting into this things would not happen quickly.  But I'm not talking about combing the Chicagoland area for original fixtures or having drawer pulls remade, people.  I just want to get some paint on the walls. 

Comments

[Wendy Howell]

Welcome to the world of REHAB! I have almost banned that one from my vocabulary as it is a close to a "four letter word" as I can find. Our rehabbing started in 2001. Well...we put some paint on the walls and there it sat--in need of everything. Flooring, bathrooms (one needed to be installed in the basement from scratch), a new kitchen, new appliances, new windows, walls knocked down, new doors, moulding, garage door, electric, and the list goes on and on. It wasn't until the following April (2002) that we started to attack the first and largest project creating a full basement bath from nothing (I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN). From that Saturday in spring of '02 until fall of '05, every weekend, most week night and all spare mental focus was dedicated to the house. I stopped taking pictures very early in the process because it just looked so awful. Besides, could I even have found the camera in all that upheaval? There were a few 6-8 week hiatuses sprinkled throughout the three years, during which time I became a lunatic because things weren't progressing. But to be honest, there were many solid weeks of old fashioned elbow grease and hard work that did little to produce any seemingly noticeable cosmetic changes either. And, that was frustrating, too. I was hoping I would walk in the front door after closing, wave my magic wand and have the place look like it was a photo shoot for Southern Living or something. It has yet to get there completely!
The bottom line is rehabbing is tough work, It's arduous and could be (and often is for many employees of TLC, Discovery and HGTV) a full time gig. If you can't dedicate that kind of time to it, you may have to adjust your expectations. It will all get done, I promise. And isn't there something nostalgic, even romantic about the references you will be able to make regarding the house's state during Ben's 3 birthday or possibly the lack of paint at Jillian's first year? Remember life is only the journey. That is where the laughter is found, the tears are shed, hugs exchanged. It's along that path that the memories of your life are made. When its all said and done, once the goal is reached, we move on to another path on the road and start another journey all over again. That's when you will look back and chuckle at your walls and the smokes hidden in the register. Savor the Journey, Sarah! And best of luck! We have a lot of skills if you ever want some help :)