Write 31 Days: Paint

It was sometime when I was in high school (along with my twin brothers), when we got "adopted" by an elderly couple in town. By adopted, I mean, they hired us to work on projects around the house and the yard. And by work, I mean that we spent some time doing actual work and a lot of other time sitting on the back porch with a pop (soda, for you other people), listening to stories from Mr. R's childhood and time in the military. 

We had a lot of laughs that summer as we stained and built and mowed and painted. Like the time that we were trying to fix the hot tub, and ended up with soaking wet pants. I hadn't brought a change of clothes, so I cycled home wearing pants approximately 10x too big for me. And then there was the day when I was left to paint the brand new shed with some oil based paint. It ended up in my hair and all the way to the bottom of my feet. 

They were patient, those two. They were gracious as we made mistakes and slowed progress. But we both benefited from the relationship; both lives were made richer as we slapped that old paint onto the side of the new shed. 

I hope I always work to invest in young people's lives the way

those two invested in mine.