Colour My World #1

Finally! A job I can do. All these months, I have walked around The Pokeaway, wielding the odd broom, holding screwdrivers, wrenches, flash lights, and attaching extension cord to the one plug we have in the barn. And now, we are at the point where painting is beginning. I can do that! I am dangerous with a paint extension pole. Walls, ceilings, t-shirts, fingers, hair, - nothing is safe from my reach.


As I was painting tonight, I was thinking of the many times I have painted in my life. My earliest recollection of painting was when my Dad told me I could paint the inside of the garage. I have a sneaky suspicion, he let me do the garage, because he was afraid of what I would do to the house, if he let me. At any rate, I donned a beautiful red bandanna and went at it. Grey. Buckets of it. My sister came along and took a black and white photo of me - with a 'Brownie Star Flash' camera. Mostly what you see in the picture is the top of my head and lots of the wall. [She has improved in her photography skills, just as I have improved in my painting skills]. I don't remember any feedback from my Dad. But I was hooked on the feeling of accomplishment it gave me.



Next, I got a job with my brother, who made me a sub-contractor in the house my Dad was going to sell. I painted the living room (maybe more, but I don't remember). My aunt came and helped me with it. My brother (ever the shrewd business man) told me he'd pay me "XXXX" if I did a "good" job, and "X" if I didn't. I was very impressed with the job and thought I'd get "XXXX" , but I think I had to settle for "X" because he was much older than I, and I didn't have an agent. My aunt and I had fun - we joked about starting our own painting company "M & M Painting". Slogan? "We've got you covered.".



The next job I remember was at the first house my husband and I owned. It had the most hideous wall paper - and it went down the stairs to the basement. I got a hold of scaffolding - or a ladder that would stand up on stairs, and took the wall paper down, so I could paint. I was very nervous about the whole thing. I wanted to make sure I chose a really great color. But I wasn't very confident in those days, so the color was white with just a tinge of peach. I was so proud of the fact that I hadn't chosen straight white. When it was put on the wall, you couldn't really tell there was peach in it, but I made sure to point out the color to anyone who came by for an inspection.



Since then, I have done a lot of painting. I even painted the outside of the third house we owned. It took me all summer. The hardest part was painting the high ends of the house. My neighbour's brother owned a scaffold and he lent it to me. He even set it up, and then went up to make sure all the boards would hold my weight. He bounced up and down on them, and declared them 'good to go'. Since he made it look so easy, I thought I'd be Scot-free. As it turned out, I had to call a good friend and ask her to pray "The Prayer of the Scaffold" for me. She did. "And dear Lord, I pray for Marni. You know she has to get up on the scaffold to paint, and she is nervous. But You have not given us a spirit of fear, but of love and self control, so give her the courage she needs to be 25 feet up in the air with nothing between her and the ground, but a bit of metal and wood." It helped. I was able to get the job done.



When the kids would come out and tell me that someone was on the phone for me, I would yell down at them "Tell them I'll have to call them back. I am on the scaffold, and I'm not coming down until I get this section done." This was a ruse. I was so nervous about being up there, that by the time I got my muscles to relax enough to be up there, I didn't want to come down, for fear I'd never get back up.

What's good about this job at The Pokeaway, is that there will be plenty of time to reminisce about previous painting jobs. I will have loads of time for picking new names for my painting company, and a new slogan. After all, the whole inside of the house needs paint! Now, let me don my bandanna, and get to work (again).