Our Daughter’s New Room

This past week, we have been painting our daughter’s room.

The walls used to be a pretty turquoise color. But now she’s ready for something new. She wants her room to be white, a blank canvas so she can change the color scheme with throw pillows and other decorations whenever she wants.

On the first day of painting, she and I started out together while Jim was working. It was a hot day, and as much as I was excited to be spending time with her and doing this project together, I was also feeling a little out of my element. It had been a long time since I had painted a room.

We gathered the supplies and primer, and I coached her how to tape the edges and cut in.

We didn’t have the right brushes and because of Covid-19 and social distancing, I wasn’t eager to jump in the car and run to the hardware store. Plus, that would just delay our momentum.

I felt my energy dropping. I think it was a combination of lots of things–the heat, wanting things to be “just right,” feeling a little insecure because I was so out of practice, and not getting enough sleep the night before.

Luckily (I guess?), she called me on it.

“Uh oh,” she said. “It’s Cranky Mom!”

I have to laugh when think about it. She nailed it.

I realized in that moment that her re-painted walls didn’t have to be perfect. The key thing was getting it done and how we felt about the time we were spending together.

She had spent the last several months dreaming about how she was going to spend her decorating budget (saved up from birthday and Christmas money) to transform her room. Finally the dream was coming true.

I also realized that what mattered even more than getting it finished was

It was time to turn things around.

First, we put each others’ hair up on the top of our heads in goofy hairdos to prevent our hair from getting dripped on with paint, which made us both look kind of crazy.

Then we blasted the music. I let her take some time-lapse videos of my super-silly and extremely embarrassing dance moves as I modeled my new hairdo.

I knew we were on a good path when she said” “Yah! It’s my favorite–Goofy Mom!”

We did the best we could with the supplies we had. She took advantage of her last moments with turquoise walls and painted some smiley faces before rolling over them in white.

By the time Jim joined our efforts after his workday, we had made some good progress and more importantly, were in much better moods.

I was reminded how important it is to take conscious steps to turn things around when they are going south, especially when they affect someone we love. I was also reminded how perfectionism and needing things to be “right” can be a big buzzkill.

Perhaps the most important lesson was that good music and the openness to look silly or at least to stretch out of our comfort zone can fix most things.

Wishing you peace, soothing pleasures and some goofy moments of your own!

If you’re in a poem-reading mood, here’s one I recently posted on my blog ~ What Soothes You, Then?