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WRITTEN BY GRACE THEISEN
“Patience is a virtue.” “Good things come to those who wait.” These are a couple of mottoes that have been repeated quite a bit by my family lately. Several months ago—and it was several months—I told you that my family had just bought a new house that had been built in 1861. (“New” is kind of a funny word to describe a 150-year-old house, but the house was new to my family at least. Pretty much everything else about the house was old: old paint, old floors, old plumbing, old electrical wires, old heating system. There was not old air conditioning, because there wasn’t any air conditioning!)
Finally, after nine long months, we are coming to the end of construction. Did I say “nine long months”? I meant nine VERY LONG months! Supposedly and hopefully, construction is coming to an end.
No more knob and tube electrical wiring. No more drains that do not drain. No more using 10 blankets to keep my nose from frosting while I sleep. Among other things, I look forward to not wearing my ski jacket to bed. (I wonder what they wore to bed on cold nights 150 years ago.) No more pushing buttons to turn on lights. Or should I say, pushing buttons and hoping that the lights turn on? Sorry, but I’m sort of used to flipping a switch and knowing that the light will come on. Knob and tube, I won’t miss you—nor will my iPhone, iPad, or even my curling iron (which I expect to keep in my bathroom and no longer the kitchen).
“Patience is a virtue” and “good things come to those who wait.” But there comes a point when being patient is overrated. And those who waited deserve to enjoy “good things.” If I have to write about this unfinished house again, I won’t be patient and won’t have a lot of good things to say. It is time for my family to settle into our new 150-year-old house.
