Vision

Last summer my dashingly handsome sidekick started a major DIY backyard renovation. He built a retaining wall, started a fence, and this spring he started flattening out the slope so we could have a larger flat space. Basically it will be a more kid-friendly back yard.

This last weekend he rented a Bobcat digger and finished the flattening.

This has been his pet project. He tried to explain it to me many times, but until today--when I finally saw the earth carved out where another retaining wall will go-- I didn't catch his vision.

This is a year into the project, mind you. Realizing someone else's vision can take awhile.

And we're not really close to being done. There are huge dirt piles, a lot more fence to build, sod to put down, not to mention the new retaining wall.

I watched my DHS slaving away in the back yard this afternoon. His perseverance reminded me of the blood and sweat we writers put into our projects.Writing a novel is just as arduous a process, even without the heavy machinery.

Kittens watching daddy at work

Our friends and families watch us work, obsess and chew our fingernails off, and they probably don't completely understand why we bother. 

I wish I could say I was always 100% supportive of the backyard project, trusting my DHS's vision even before I "saw" it for myself, but the truth is -- it's been expensive, time consuming, noisy, messy. It's taken him away from our family at times when I wish it wouldn't have.

But in the end, when my kids are back there playing soccer or doing cartwheels in the grass, it will all be worth it.

Same with writing.

Is it worth all the trouble, all the heartache, all the stress? Time will tell. All I'm holding on to right now is the vision.

How about you? What's your vision?