You & Me & Us Together & the Rules of Life

Since before we were married I love (almost) more than anything else You and Me and Us Together time. Usually, this means we are working together on a project. Landscaping. Painting a room. Remodeling. Sometimes it means we are spending the day together. No kids. No friends. No one but "You and Me and Us Together".  Those are the days we go "exploring" and find ourselves somewhere we totally didn't expect to be.  Someday I'll write about the 1 room school house we discovered.  We are a great team.

A few weeks ago my mom had her hip replaced. She's been in rehab and later this week she is going home. But first, she needs some new stairs in her garage. The current stairs have a 9.5" rise - way too much for someone with a new hip. To complicate things my back has been giving me fits and I'm not allowed to "lift more than a pen".

This required some You and Me and Us Together time.

We needed to buy several 2x4's, plywood, move the (heavy) miter saw into the car, and otherwise engage in lots of physical activity . . . meaning Gail had to do the heavy work.  We went to Home Depot and scored big time. We found 4 pieces of pre-cut 18" x 14" x 1" inch plywood in the scrap pile. We then found 6 pressure treated 2x4's pre-cut to 3.5' lengths - also in the scrap pile. At the register, all the wood rang up to $55 and then was discounted by 85% because it was "scrap". Score!:)

As we constructed the stairs we found our groove; me doing more talking than physical; Gail hammering the nails with a bit more passion than normal. (Wonder why!:)  Soon we had converted 1 step into 3, and the average height just about 5".  Perfect for Mom and her new hip.

In the end, Gail said she wasn't able to wrap her head around how we were going to build around the existing cement stair so that the new stairs would be the right height.  She complimented me on my "vision".

I thanked her for the compliment and replied, "I am not encumbered by your reality." 

We both laughed.

And we agreed to add the phrase to our "Rules of Life".

Other phrases that have made our "Rules of Life" repertoire are:

There is too much stupid to fight. 

Your concern has been noted. 

Thank you for your input, my position remains the same.

(this one we owe credit to our friend - BP!)

Logic has nothing to do with this. 

and . . . an old standby we all know . . . 

It is easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission.

We have found that most frustrating situations, or when we are dealing with people that didn't get the normal allocation of intelligence / common sense usually result in our recalling one of the Rules of Life.

We've been known to sometimes state one (or more) of the appropriate Rules of Life out loud.

The reaction is usually . . . priceless. ;)

Enjoy your day!:)