Laying the Foundation

There’s something simple about the life I get to live. In all its wild crazy busy, there is this secret called home.

Today, my Dad asks me if I would like to go on a bike ride. Mind you, this morning was designed to have my family at work so I could in turn accomplish some projects with time to myself.

So my head is blarged(in this scenario.. blarged=frustrated :) a future blog will have to be a word list with meanings hee hee).

So my head is blarged in the sense that if I say yes to this bike ride, I am pushing back the commitment I made in my head to accomplish certain things. And, this is my Dad. The man that grows up just like I do. The man that takes me fishing, the man that taught me how to hunt, the man that I don’t often get to spend that time with now that I live so far away.

So I say yes. 8 ) Of course I’ll go on a bike ride with my Dad. He gets out this bike from who knows where and the speeds don’t really work. So one speed it is ha ha I felt like a kid in a hallmark movie. Pedaling as fast as I can and yet the headway was minimal. I had to laugh.

We made our way “around the block”. The block in the country is about 4 miles. Halfway through, I see a construction site. Someone is building a house. I ask Dad whose it is and he tells me it is a friend of ours! OH YES! Now I remember that they were building out near where my parents live. It is really exciting for me as well. There are Mom and Dad figures that pop up in people’s lives and these friends are one of them.

The construction was almost done pouring the concrete. Dad slows down, takes his bike and puts it by a tree in a ditch on the side of the road. I realize we are going to check out the site.

To me, that is not common, to go watch someone work. It feels almost critical or judgemental or like you don't belong there. Especially a construction site. We walked right over though. The outside foundation had already been framed. Different sections of the house has the concrete floor poured in. The complete pieces were the standard grey wet concrete. There were several places where different plastic tubing or pvc pipe was sticking up and one spot where a whole bunch of tubing was sticking up!

I found out that area was for the main heating or something where the boiler would go. The other bits were either a shower and sink and toilet or a half bath or the kitchen. You could see the whole house in a sense just by knowing where those few things were. Things that you never see in a complete house.

The area where the concrete hadn’t been poured yet was cool too.

Out where the garage would be. They had rebar all across it. It creates the strength that supports the concrete. Another layer. Rebar looks like really fat brown/black redvine licorice except way stronger and much less tasty I'm sure. :) Under the rebar you could see the pink insulation. I know what this stuff is because I have had the chance to see it in the past.

As I write this, I am always curious how many people would know that from living in houses their whole lives. Be it from remodels or projects or what have you. I am also curious at what they would use in different areas of the country. Would it be the same? Or would it be different. Different methods or ways you get to create things based on climate and earth conditions. Fascinating. :)

The way they poured the concrete was especially cool. The company had a stationary truck essentially. There were four or so arm looking things that came out the side to stabilize it. Much like when you lower the legs on a camper for it to set on except this was stabilizing an entire truck. It looked like a spider :) And from the top of it, it has a huge crane looking arm. It bent 3 or so different times, so virtually it was an arm that could reach across the entire site. The concrete would get poured from a concrete truck into that truck and there was a big tube that followed the huge arm across the site and then a plastic straw looking thing at the end of it was where all the concrete poured out of.

Growing up, my Grandpa worked with a concrete truck. I remember several different times I got to see concrete being laid. It took a lot to take it from one end of a site to the other with wheelbarrows and shovels and then to flatten it out with two by fours, shaking it back and forth so it settles the way it was designed.

Today, they had this giant motorized rolling pin looking thing that went over the concrete to help level it out and shake it down. They definitely still got to do hard work, don’t get me wrong. It was just so cool to see it transform and be covered before my eyes.

The guys working on the site today were artists. Not only did they pour the entire thing, they get to level it out, and go around all of those pipes I talked about earlier.

This is the base layer of everything else that will be created. How beautiful is that.

Sitting there watching, I felt more connected to the magic of honoring what has been created for us. Who comes in with their gifts to do their best work that we may never notice. I mean for real. How often do you think about the concrete under the pretty floor you walk on or under the carpet under the nice big cozy bed you lay on. The building you’re sitting in took time, effort and energy to manifest a foundation so all the pretty could be added on top.

Consider the people that did that for you. Granted you paid a pretty penny for it, or a pretty penny was paid for it if you didn’t build your house yourself but really stopping to consider the fact that the structures we go into were designed and thought out. Things placed and it took a team to pour out and level the foundation. They got to level it and watch it and then make sure all the little bumps were “shaved” off. Their hard work and gifts and training built something that you spend a lot of time in.

It was a beautiful reminder to me to see underneath the obvious. See past what is in front of us and what it took for it to manifest.

Where in my life am I looking at the house without honoring the concrete that was poured for the house to be built on? Where am I looking at a "perfect" person without acknowledging the art and foundation underneath that they built on.

In myself, where am I not giving what has been laid down the appreciation or the credit it deserves? Appreciating the strong set up that i have built upon.

Where in life do I just wish there was a house already? Where I don't take the time to set the concrete and then it crumbles in front of me and I wonder why.

SOOO MANY ANALOGIES TO LIFE!