Hahaha!

Are you sure you wouldn’t like to come in and set a spell? I have some freshly made lemonade and iced tea that I could bring you.

I guess it takes courageous to know courageous.

I’m so glad that my struggles can inspire someone else. It makes all that misery feel ultimately worthwhile, somehow.

I am proud – but, per my other entries, I also need to acknowledge that I did not accomplish this transformation alone.

In particular, I had massive help from about half a dozen friends, including a retired couple who gave generously of their time during the summer of 2006 and then during this past winter. The husband, in fact, spent huge chunks of the last few months of his life helping me: he died April 15 due to post-op complications after having a lung tumour removed. Everywhere I look in this apartment, there’s something that Richard fixed, fetched, assembled, or attached to the wall for me.

That has in fact made maintaining the newly recovered space a top priority for me. Any time it gets a bit untidy, I feel that I’m dishonouring his memory – not to mention the efforts of my other friends – and I gladly spend the few minutes (never more than 30, and usually more like 10 or 15) to restore order.

...that my kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom (formerly my home office) got into your craft room as well.

May all these photos inspire you, and anyone else who’s digging out from under stuff – whether it be in a single closet or an entire house.

It can be done, with patience, persistence, and support.

If I were planning to have a tombstone, I’d be proud to have that engraved on it.

Along with “She loved well, and she was well loved.”

EDIT: Oh, and “She made a difference.”

But she didn’t inspire ME to do a damned thing. I ain’t cleanin’ shit. I have a Puerto Rican for that.