Back-to-school is in full-swing at the Eller household, which puts Mom a little on edge. Some may make a comparison to a former dictator, but I wouldn’t go that far. In fact, I’ve been making a concerted effort this year to keep all the anxieties that correlate with working full time and having two kids in school at bay.
I even left work with a new attitude one random day. No driving home in my typical clenched-fisted manner; mentally assigning a task to each and every one of those precious minutes between 5:30 (mom gets home) and 8:30 (kids’ bedtime). Homework hadn’t yet kicked in like I knew it soon would so I opted for a family walk. Dad got the dog leash, one kid jumped on a bike, the other a scooter and off we went – the quintessential, suburban family on a care-free stroll down to the lake.
A half-mile or so later, we arrived at the docks when my husband looked down at his boat. Now, this isn’t any boat. This boat is the boat where my husband first learned to wakeboard with his best friend Tracy. This boat has seen great times (catching “big air”) and great defeats (face-plants… several face-plants) as well as great sorrow. It belonged to my husband’s best friend Tracy, who passed away in July. And there we were, this beautiful September day, on our nice, calm family walk, when I hear these words, “The boat is sinking!”
My husband flew through the gate and I (yes, my mistake) let the dog in right behind him. To set the stage here, the dog is not very visually acute… ok, she’s pretty much blind and not all that fit… ok, she’s fat.
The husband started to freak out. He’s a very laid-back person so when this sort of thing happens, it kind of throws the whole family balance out of whack. He’s panicked about the boat and mad about the dog – I’ll spare that detail. As poor, half-blind Bailey was just following orders to “GO BACK!!!” she overstepped the narrow dock path and landed in the lake.
She doesn’t swim very well, because you know… the weight issue, not to mention she literally couldn’t see an escape route. I stood there, as I often do during emergency situations, speechless and motionless while the kids cried and screamed “Bailey’s gonna die!” After several attempts of trying to lift the dog by her collar, about three feet onto the dock surface, my former Myrtle Beach lifeguard husband (fully clothed) jumped in the water and swam the dog to shore.
Immediately following the rescue, he sprinted the half-mile or so back to the house, in flip-flops mind you, to retrieve a battery to bilge the boat. After several episodes of sparks flying from putting wrong battery wire to wrong battery wire (in knee-deep boat water btw) he finally got the boat to bilge.
"How does this all relate to a home improvement blog" you might ask?
"Directly", I’d answer. We recently made over our bedroom, coating the walls with a calming Cottage Timber from Valspar’s Seaside Retreats collection, which serves as the perfect backdrop for our new contemporary bedroom suite in a rich espresso finish; the bed donning a pale, coastal blue comforter. This is my retreat. A sanctuary I call my own. Later that evening, after feeding, bathing and putting the kids to bed, I went to my bedroom; closed the door; lit some candles; and escaped.
Jule Schreffler Eller
Trend Communications Manager
LowesCreativeIdeas.com