From Monday:

We spent the Labour Day weekend finishing our Adirondack chairs, patching holes and dings in our hallway, and priming the surface for the another colour. I'm speckled with paint, but most of it has ended up on the wall and on my chair, so things are good.

I got frustrated, was encouraged, took a break, returned to my work, and made things happen. I had fun.

DIY makes me feel just a little more grown-up, a little more ready to take on life. I'm not afraid of hanging things on the wall, because I know we can patch it up. I'm not constrained by the furniture available in stores. I can make simple pieces. I'm not limited by the produce in the neighborhood supermarket. I can grow bitter melon and different varieties of basil.

It would've been much harder to explore these things on my own. I'm so lucky that W- has a lot of experience in these things, and he makes it easy for me to learn too. A lot of it has to do with having a house, and investing time into shared practical interests.

What else could I have been doing with my time? Writing. Coding. Drawing. Every moment is a decision to do one thing instead of another. Even if DIY leads to a less optimal life than, say, focusing on development and outsourcing time-consuming tasks not related to that, I like the balance and the freedom and the diversity of experience. I like building more stories into the everyday backdrop of our lives.

Here’s to working with your hands.