The Shop

I once read a parenting book that highlighted the importance of family time and routines, especially as the kids enter their teenage years, creating a sense of stability and security. Somehow years passed by so quickly and now Paige is a teenager with spa like interests which are quite enjoyable. We however require Tanner’s assistance and skill level for our day-to-day operations, as well as to help us keep our sanity. In return we must accompany him to the shop so that not all our family time and adventures are on our terms. There is always give and take and he has his own passions and aspirations to achieve outside of pampered. During the summer there’s lot to do and a big swinging bench for us to read on. However, during the winter, we can be crusty when we are cold and it is always cold out there. Why am I telling you these things? Simply because this was Paige’s suggestion of a blog post as we were discussing business. That, and her other ideas were absolute turds. But I don’t want her to feel discouraged so here we are. Where is here you ask? We are currently sitting here in the shop freezing our bums off low key wishing it was warm enough to have brought the pedicure things with us. We don’t like to be dirty and very much realize how spoiled we are to not have to do the yucky jobs that build us our life. We sit here and work on our business goals and accomplishments, our dreams for when we are back home living our best lives. We are doing this planning in Tanners grungy smelly shop. All that is required of us is our presence which is interesting because our humour is snarky on the best of days. But we do the things as a family, celebrate victories, lick our wounds, problem solve the predicaments we get ourselves in. Truth be told, the later is Paige and I, were much too stubborn to admit defeat and ask for help. We once spent 45 minutes trying to back up a trailer, we had no idea how to. While it would have only taken Tanner two minutes or so. We were making memories, and teaching Paige to be a stubborn pain in the ass just like her mother. As Tanner looked on, allowing us to struggle in our own stubbornness while silently smirking knowing full well what was transpiring. There is no power and we have zero cell service, so things are a bit simpler, yet somehow there’s always something to be done. Sanding, painting furniture, organizing the chaos to make things easier for when we move back home. We just finished moving Tanners shop from its old location the day before the fire. His things were all outside rotting away in the snow. The shop was full of garbage left behind by the old owners. It was a giant project removing all of that so that Tanner’s work tools and motorcycles could go inside. Now totally covered in rust and grime from sitting outside. A deflating experience for him to say that least. But the last year has been and interesting one, coming together as a family trying to do the projects and spend the time out here for Papa to have a shop, he will be proud of. Sometimes it’s about putting in the time for other people showing interests in their interests and maybe just maybe you’ll learn something along the way. Or if your like Paige and I, you’ll paint everything while Tanner is distracted. May we suggest the colour black. It looks good on anything. We try and be routine even with the chaos that has been tossed our way to maintain consistency for the children, and ourselves. Trying to maintain sanity along the way. We support each other and grow through all the experiences together. All while showing the kids what family means to us. So in summary of this blog, I suppose the lesson is to support those that support you and make sure you are making memories along the way, they are what make this all worth while.