May 30, 2006

May Day, 1/4

"What does a 65 year old retired marine and body builder, and me have in common?" I asked myself.

Besides the fact were both standing on the same ladder leaning over a 12/12 pitch on a cabin roof.

It was 10:00 in the morning. The sun had made it's way through 1000 km of atmosphere above us and had met the back of my neck. Below us sat 25 gallons of wood stain, and, via a 1/2 inch tube trailing from a bucket up the gun in Kurt's hand, was being vaporized and sprayed on the naked wood logs around us.

I surveyed the scene, or what i could through my mask and goggles. Kurt climbed around the roof. In his goggles and dual canister air filter mask, he looked more like a common house fly than a house painter.

To say that i am in the midst of a transition period would be an understatement, i thought to myself. The wood stain ran like blood down the logs, soaking in like ink into paper of a love letter. This scene had been played out in my mind for some time. but like everything and everyplace i seem to find myself in, there is part of me somewhere else. As it were, i was standing precariously on the 45 degree pitched roof of my father's cabin.

I looked out over the lake. I thought of eucalyptus trees and bright beaches by the sea. Not the bumble bees on my t-shirt sleeves. I thought of the people i have met and who have gone. I thought about where they are now and if they should ever wonder about me at the moment, they certainly would not guess Kurt and I would be on a roof in a cabin in the woods.

As the stain ran down the wood, i wondered where the reality is between choosing your own path through life, and destiny; between making due with you are given, and making your own life.

Standing on the edge of the roof, it felt like i was awkwardly, dangerously, walking the line inbetween.

Posted by Todd Roeth at May 30, 2006 10:25 PM