Making Ready

Today is a busy day at the Mariotti Compound. We're cleaning, sorting, purging, taping, painting and, uh, cleaning in addition to our normal weekend activities like watching a Dirty Jobs episode.

My family loves Dirty Jobs. Mike Rowe is a bit of a local hero hereabouts. Today I'm feeling a little like Mike Rowe except not quite so rugged. Or so dirty. But my arms are killing me from washing, cutting-in, and rolling paint on the bathroom ceiling. So maybe I'm nothing at all like Mike Rowe, but the Mariotti Compound is getting spruced up regardless.

The girls are helping out around the house by hauling laundry up and down the stairs, putting it away when folded, and otherwise straightening up and picking up. I love it when my family pulls together and pitches in. Last weekend at our garage sale they were super helpful too. Zoe even helped sell stuff by answering pricing questions. "Twenty five cents!" she called out to our visitors a few times.

On this trip to the land of the long white cloud, I know my family will rise to the occasion and pitch in and operate like a well oiled machine when it comes down to it. I know that when it's important we DO rise above the petty acrimony that punctuates our normal everyday lives. "STOP TOUCHING ME!!"

When given extraordinary challenges, people are capable of extraordinary things and it's always heartening to see glimpses of my family's potential as a sign of great things to come.