Whitewashing The Fence

Today we began the long process of painting the fence (or as I like to call it 'whitewashing' the fence. Doesn't that just sound more exciting than 'painting the fence'?! Regardless, painting, whitewashing, we began this long overdue project today. It's one that Dave and I went back and forth about for awhile. Should we hire someone to do it or us simply rolling up our sleeves and doing it ourselves? The later won out and the girls were thrilled! They have been inquiring, almost daily, about when we would start painting the fence, and with the glorious weather we had today we figured it was time to finally answer their question. We only finished the driveway side of the fence today (there is so much more to go) but as you can see it already looks tons better! 

I was out there for a total of three hours. The girls lasted roughly two. Not bad considering how young they are and this being their first major painting project and all. I love how excited they were, and I love that it was just one more thing that we can all work on together to maintain this dear farmhouse of ours. I couldn't help but feel connected to all the other families that have lived in house before us. It's times like this that get me thinkin' all the way back to the original owners and how they most likely lived very similar to how we live in this space today. I imagine that there were several babies born, raised and schooled here in our sweet old farmhouse. I feel such a connection to those families from all those years ago because of that (minus the home birth part- oh, if only I had known)!

Needless to say, as I was coming to the final three sections of the driveway side of the fence a sweet old gentleman (he had to be in his 80s) showed up asking if I'd like some help. He shared with me that his English was not good and he'd love to talk to me so that it could get better. "Are you from Brazil or Portugal?" I inquired (since there is a large population from both countries in our area). He shared with me that he was from Cuba and that Castro had him jailed for four years due a few things (most of which escape my mind right now) one of which was talking about the Bible. He went on to say that he ended up in America due to a letter he received from the first President Bush asking if he'd like to bring his family and come live here. He was happy to get to do so but said that he misses Cuba since "America is too big". We chatted some more, about his family (he, his children and grandchildren all live in Miami) and mine, and he got to meet the girls and Dave. Before long we were done and he said his thank yous and good-byes and told us he'd come back and help us this week if we'd like. It was such a treat to have this person, a complete stranger, offer help. It made the world seem a little kinder. A little more like how it must have been all those years ago when our house wasn't so old and the world was much sweeter.