My husband came home one Friday night from “a S#!T of a day” (his words not mine) and he announced that he was going to paint the dining room.
I had been asking him to do it for a loooooooooong time. The tin of paint had been sitting in the shed for weeks. So I was glad he was *finally* getting around to it. I asked “That’s nice dear. When?’
And he said “Right Now!”
I looked around the dinning room. It was full of all our usual furniture. He’d have to move the furniture, clean the walls, roll up the rugs, mask the door and window frames with tape, cover the floors with drop sheets, etc. It was at least TWO HOURS of preparation to get the walls ready to paint. He looked tired and irritable.
I tried to talk him out of it, but he was in one of his… moods. Now, my hubby is Mr Square at work. He has a very tidy hair cut, he manages big, complicated jobs, and solves problems all day long. And he is mostly Mr Square at home too. He is the thinker, the organiser, the calming influence. He likes everything to be in its place. He makes conservative, safe choices. He is the perfect balance for my own dynamic and creative nature.
But sometimes, he goes… bonkers! And I have learned to just stand back, keep out of the way, and enjoy the show.
He feverishly set about prepping the room, after he evicted us from it. The kids ate dinner, not watching TV, but watching him turn the place upside down, like a madman. With some reckless shortcuts (like stacking all the furniture on top of the table, and just not bothering with masking) he got the tin of paint from the shed, and the brushes and rollers. And then…
…he decided to INVOLVE THE CHILDREN!
Can someone call the crazy police?
He gave the kids a paintbrush each, a Chinese takeaway container full of paint each… and instructions to “JUST GO CRAZY!”
(Oh and a few rules like – no rude words, and no penises.)
My children had such a *gleeful* and *wild* time.
It was like there was some kind of artistic, hippy, music festival happening in my dining room, where everyone painted their bodies and hair and played air guitar to rock music, totally lost in their own worlds.
They were COVERED in paint at the end!
It was funny, weird, beautiful, bizarre and one of those moments that I was so happy to capture with my camera. The kids went to bed (after a shower) happy as can be.
And when they woke up in the morning… my husband had covered up their graffiti with three coats of “Antique White”.
I guess he was just letting off steam in a practical way. He was so calm, relaxed and so pleased with himself when he woke up.
And… he made us all pancakes for breakfast!
