We live in an old-ish house.  She was built solid and perfect, but like all things approaching 70, she needs a little work to make her shine.  (Mamas, I promise this piece is not advocating plastic surgery).

Every now and again we get brave and decide to take on another house project.

Mamas, do you know how to tell when you have a project house?  One strong indicator is your contractors become like friends. We have a very good tile guy and he came to us asking for work. He knew we had it, we knew we had it.  Still semi traumatized from our master bath makeover; we decided to dip our toe back in the renovation pool.  We would do our laundry room. After all it just needed tile and paint, and was the smallest room we had to offer.

So our contractor got busy. He whistled while he worked. Actually, that’s not true, he talks to himself and swears a lot; its actually really funny.  Hubby and I did our part, and prepped for a mini painting project. This meant going to Home Depot to shake the YEARS old 5-gallon primer and paint that had been sitting around collecting dust and cobwebs!

As in my life, things always take longer than I expect. The one-week turnaround became two weeks without laundry.  So THIS weekend’s paint job was a necessity. I had to be able to get a few loads of laundry in. The underwear situation was becoming dire!

It was down to the wire, but our deadline was met. I started laundry as soon as the water hoses were connected. You think I am not joking but for reals, as soon as the last hose was turned tight in place, the laundry began! For the next day I had my favorite appliances at capacity.

Life was back to normal.

With each trip into my transformed modern sparkling laundry room, I marvel at the new room smell. The perfect blend of primer and paint subtly lingers, as you cross the threshold of the door. This smell is nostalgic for some unknown reason. There must be a hidden happy childhood memory that is activated each time I enter this room.

Mamas, grief is just like renovations; it takes a lot of work. Once you start the journey you have to commit to complete it. When we missed our one-week renovation deadline, I knew we could not move the washer and dryer back in until the painting was done. If those massively heavy blobs were moved back, they would never be moved again and I would have to live with an unfinished space, for forever!

Just like laundry rooms, you can’t leave your grief unfinished.

You will regret it later.

I sacrificed another week, and watched the clothes pile up and the loads of laundry multiple like bunnies. Nevertheless, I KNEW it would be worth it for that room to be finished, finished. I knew I would thank myself later.

Grief is the same way mamas. You have to put the work in. You have to get the help you need to process, to forgive, to accept.  You have to do the work in order to reap the reward completion brings.

Close your eyes, take a deep breath mamas. Can you smell it? Is your grief renovation project complete? Don’t give up.  Keep going, It will be worth it.

BREATHE