Life Update: The House Goes On

It's been over a month since my last blog post. Yikes! But not to worry; tiny house construction is still under way, just more slowly, with less blogging activity to accompany it.

My plan for the summer was to work basically full-time on the house, to blog exhaustively about the whole process, and to hold off on other demands on my time, primarily (I thought) job searching. To that, Life has said: "Yeah, right!" And I have replied: "...Yeah! Right!" Because now, instead of having one project--to use the term loosely--I have four. 

It started in June. My grandfather passed away suddenly on June 8, and my family jumped in help Grandma get by without her primary caregiver, her husband of 65 years. Grandma suffered a stroke when I was a baby and is now 90 years old, two conditions that conspire to make her genuinely need someone with her in her house 24 hours a day to cook, clean, and garden for her, remind her to eat and drink, listen to her stories (her primary recreation), take her for drives, and generally keep her out of trouble. My mother, my cousin, my aunt, and I have been taking turns living with Grandma as her caregiver-companion. Goodbye, one to two days a week of potential house work!

Exactly one month after Grandpa's passing, I went on a first date. It lasted three hours. The second date lasted eighteen. By now I've lost count of the dates and the hours we've spent together, and guess what? We're not sick of each other yet! Sweet! But it was a complete blindside. I mean, okay, sure, we met via an online dating site, for which I knowingly and voluntarily signed up, so you'd think I was expecting (or at least hoping) to meet someone. The fact of that matter is, it was actually a total experiment, with no real expectation of anything coming of it. Just a "Let's see what this online dating thing is all about." Turns out there are actually some winners in the mix. Surprise!

And the Monday after that first date, I officially started my new job as naturalist and volunteer coordinator for Pacific Biodiversity Institute, an ecological research nonprofit. I'd been volunteering as a citizen scientist with their Harbor Porpoise Project and was approached by the lead porpoise scientist about helping out with the project in a more official capacity. They had funding for a small part-time position, and I couldn't possibly turn it down. I mean, porpoises, right? Cetaceans are every aspiring marine scientist's wet dream (pun, ha ha), and here I was being offered a job related to them that I hadn't even applied for. Phenomenal. But, oh, hello again, normal grownup responsibilities...

But while I may grumble slightly about the tiny house progressing slowly and whatnot, I really can't complain about the turns my life has taken and the diversity of pursuits it has acquired. I've gotten to know my grandmother better than I've ever known her in my life; Alex is sweet and fun and challenging; and hell, I have paid employ more or less in my field of study. Who could possibly complain about any of that stuff? This life is awesome.

And I realized something: it's because I said "Yes." Three additional responsibilities, three additional time sucks, three additional opportunities to grow my life in three directions--yes, yes, yes.

Yes to straying from the game plan, yes to diving into the unknown, yes to making myself, my life, and my world better in the long run even if it's hard work!

Yes! Yeah! Right!

And yes, I will be back soon with blog posts about the work I've done since July. Roofing, wiring, window trim, and more!