This handsome kid, maybe 20, still lives in a 7' x 9' room at his parents' house. He exudes confidence, personality, and enthusiasm. His hobby is bodybuilding and he's planning to build his own gym one day--"after working with my dad to make enough money." He was an electrician for a year, but decided he didn't like staying in one place all day long--some kind of industrial building--so he joined Hugo in the appliance repair business. "I love cooking! Every morning I make myself tilapia and basmati rice for breakfast."
Both of them have twinkly, happy eyes. Both of them are wonderful conversationalists.
Jahaziel's English is perfect and Hugo's is a mix of Spanish and English. Both talk and listen with intense attention, and they scrutinized every single detail in each room, the porch, and even the bathrooms. Both loved the casita and Jahaziel took pictures to show his girlfriend "because this is exactly the look I want in my house." I showed them how the Murphy bed works and Jahaziel said he'd already designed a Murphy bed for the Tiny House he's going to build.
Both wanted a tour of my house, too. They stroked every piece of furniture! When I showed Hugo the David Marsh dining table of many colors--with two turquoise chairs and two red chairs--he said, "All these colors make you want to eat something delicious because color gives you energy and makes you want to be so alive."
I showed the house to them separately. Jahaziel was working on the refrigerator in the casita and Hugo came in to take a look at my stove. "I wouldn't spend the money on a 15-year-old stove," he said. "They only make appliances these days to last about 8 years. The old stuff? They are dinosaurs, like your little Kenmore refrigerator in the apartment. They will last for many decades, but not these new things. They are all plastic and computer chips and things start breaking on them right away."
"Jahaziel's going to love these!" he said, stroking an old pie case, then a pine cabinet, then the old weathered boards on the Happy Deck. "These are just the kind of things my son loves."
Sure enough, when Jahaziel came in, his hands and eyes landed on exactly the things his dad had predicted he'd love. I was delighted at how they showed affection for each other and how the father knew his son so well.
We talked about how a house grows and changes like a living thing. "Some things stick around for many years, and when their time is up, they move to someone else's house," I said.
"In fact, I have this little chest here I need to find a home for," I said--pointing to a little cabinet I'd just put outside the back door for give-away. "Would you like it?" It was a simple little piece, I'd had it for ten years or more. His eyes lit up. "It's perfect!" he said. A tube of itch cream and a bottle of nail polish fell out on the driveway. "I used it to keep my medicines in," I said.
"Where did you get all these things?" Jahaziel asked as he was looking at the old peeling doors and walls on the deck. "These are the things that give a house its soul. I feel like I'm at home here, and I don't even live here!" I told him about YeYa's and Pickers Paradise and other of Mike's favorite treasure-hunting places.
He admired a rhinestone guitar on the kitchen wall that Day made for me one Christmas and a table Will made twenty years ago. He noticed the stained glass pieces Carlene made, the Tiffany lamp Mike hung on the porch. In fact, most of the pieces he photographed were handmade gifts from Day, Will, Carlene and Mike. When he left, he texted me this:
"This is Jahaziel. When you have a chance let me know the places you went for the old wood, salvaged junk and all those other wonderful places you mentioned that I can't seem to remember! Again....Beautiful home. Keep remodeling keep changing it and maybe in the next month or so if it's alright with you I'll bring my girlfriend along so she can see it as well. Your home has inspired me!"
What inspired me was Jahaziel! I may have met people as happy as he is, but never anyone more so! And observant! Sometimes it seems that people my age (and our projects) are invisible to young people. (See the grocery store scene in Grace and Frankie) But his love of our projects and his sharing of his own dreams put us on common ground.
Sometimes it seems that we inhabit different planets than the planets of people in their twenties. But tonight I am feeling connected to the future, with my little blue medicine cabinet moving on to Jahaziel's Tiny House!
No comments:
Post a Comment