Day 2

Yesterday when I got home from work, I smelled it. The smell of fresh paint. I love that smell. That means that what was old is now new. I raced up the stairs to find Bear in my craft room. In place of the old wood paneling was a brand new coat of white primer paint. It was BEAUTIFUL. Bear was in the middle of the room, paintbrush in hand. He turned to look at me.

"Hey, Hon," he said. Nonchalantly, as though he wasn't at all the amazing hero I knew him to be.

"Babe, this looks aMAZing!" I squealed. The afternoon sun reflected of the bright white walls, casting light into every corner of the room.

"There's still a lot left to do, but it's getting there," he said. "You wanna help?"

Did I ever. Together we dipped paint brushes into the can of primer and got started on the second coat. He was sweet and took the little brush so I could use the big one. He even let me use one of his old long sleeved shirts so I wouldn't be cold in the drafty room. As we worked side by side (I did the low places, he did the high ones), we discussed what the next steps of the project - what would I want here, would this be okay there, etc. We left it to dry overnight and went downstairs to make dinner.

Over dinner, I asked Bear what else he'd done during the day.
"I transfered all 400 mp3s from your old computer to the flashdrive, I got the mail, I did a load of dishes, picked up and emailed you a couple of times. I didn't get as much done as I wanted, but it's a start."

I just shook my head and smiled. Maybe this layoff will be better than I thought!

Today he is picking up carpet, the wood for my storage unit, a new light fixture and some other things. I'm not sure if he's painting another coat of primer or not. I guess I'll have to wait and see! I can't wait.