9 Life Lessons from the Construction Site: 25 Years in the Making

Happy Birthday to…me!

It’s a big one guys. This weekend I make it to 25. Half way to 50. Quarter of a century. Slice and dice it how ever you want.

With over 25 years experience living in construction sites—and yes, I am most certainly counting my time spent in the womb since I am 98% positive I can round up evidence documenting my mom swinging a sledge hammer while I was busy baking—I’ve collected more than my fair share of life lessons that DIY manuals conveniently fail to share, but we’ll just stick with the top 10 for today’s purposes. Here we go…

1. Pretty nails (the kind you grow on your fingers, not the kind you smash with a hammer) and construction sites do not go hand in hand. Manicures don’t happen for this girl.

2. Leaving a paint tray unattended on the floor may result in puppy paws tracking Sherwin Williams’ high hiding primer all over your kitchen.

3. When it comes to removal, not all wallpaper is created equal. Some will remove without a hitch and give you an inflated sense of hope. Others will make you want to rip your hair out, glue it back on and then proceed to rip it out again.

4. Kicking a hole in the wall when you just can’t handle another second of your three obnoxious kids is perfectly acceptable when you know how to patch sheetrock like a pro…right, Mom? Love you.

5. It’s impossible as a teenager to sleep until noon when your dad fires up the miter saw at 8:30 a.m. sharp.

6. All families have a matching set of bandanas, right?

 
7. Current testers will tell you if an electrical outlet is hot…so will little brothers armed with curious minds and bobby pins.

8. “What’s changed since last time I was at your house?”: A common remark among my childhood friends…my adulthood friends are still saying the same thing.

9. Who knew that hauling other people’s trash home from the side of the road was hereditary? I guess we can thank Mom for the birth of the Rehabilitation Station.

10.  Nothing makes me happier than when the electrician/plumber realizes that I actually know what I’m talking about. Oddly enough, it’s also about the same time he drops his price…Thanks, Dad.


Happy weekend, ya’ll!