Denial just doesn't work

Here we are, embarking on yet another remodeling project that we haven't wanted to tackle, although deep down we knew was inevitable . . .

It began with a little leak in the ceiling around the kitchen eating area, which Lee was convinced was caused by too much water getting splashed by the boys when showering (like they were little kids) . . .

Then last Fall we had an incident with a clogged gutter, and that gave us the opportunity to explain away the leak by telling ourselves that it must have been water seeping into the house from the overflowing gutters. Truthfully, a lot of the damage was indeed caused by the gutters, so we hoped the entire leak issue had been solved.

But the leak came back. Lee eventually opened up the ceiling and came to the sad conclusion that it was coming from the shower area upstairs, but then, still avoiding the "R" word, tried to patch things up with a little cement work and lots of caulk.

And The Leak, which had now permutated into a living, breathing monster, gleefully and malevolently laughed at our pitiful attempts. And still we refused to face the issue head on. Yesterday, Lee decided to take down the sliding glass door on the shower, and replace it with a "real" shower curtain so that David (we can't blame John any more because, inconveniently for this explanation, is away at college) wouldn't splash so much when he showered (yes, he was back to that theory again).

So today, armed with his manly tools, he headed upstairs to take down the door. But after a thorough and dispassionate inspection of the walls, he finally realized that all the walls surrounding the shower were soft, and wet, and beyond patching. The whole thing needed to come down.

It's interesting to observe how the two of us have confronted this issue: Lee kept coming up with explanations that were, in the current slang, really lame. But I acted even worse: I never bought into any of his explanations, not really, but still went along with them because I just didn't want to face the reality of another remodeling project - the decisions, the mess, the many months that the house would be torn up, the money, the short tempers, the mess . . .

Yet, here we are. It's begun with a thorough tear down of the old tile, all the hardware, and the insulation behind it. The tub will come out, too, because, if we are going to do this thing, we may as well do it right. So this afternoon, we went to Home Depot and ordered a whirlpool tub.

And doesn't my husband look cute, even wearing his old, scruffy remodeling clothes?