Warren's Adventure

My husband Warren is building a shed in the backyard, back in the corner where it juts a little further north. The shed is 12 x 14 feet, big enough to store a ton of rosewood or 12' lengths of steel bar in it. (Warren makes and refinishes custom percussion instruments, a line of work that requires woodworking and metalworking skills, along with occasionally atypical materials.)

Warren has probably done about 85% of the work on the building himself, from cutting the joists to screwing the corrugated metal roof in place. My dad has provided another 14% of the effort. I have contributed the remainder, with most of my contribution being in the category of unloading materials or helping carry tools.

Although I love architecture and know how to hammer a nail straight, I have never understood how a building, even a simple one, goes together. So I am not great on a building site. Warren, on the other hand, can not only visualize a structure, but then turn around and build it.

One of Warren's favorite books as a little boy was Jack's Adventure, a Little Golden Book. Jack was a little boy who "wanted a hideout." In his search for a hideout, he ended up at an appliance store, where he received two wooden crates, which he then turned into a fine hideout (with a remarkable bit of hand carpentry for a little boy).

It is a fun story, and one that I remembered from my childhood as soon as I saw the book, which Warren still owns. As we were talking over his plans for the new shed, he said he was tempted to make it look a little like Jack's hideout. So with Jack in mind, Warren designed the shed that is now going up in the back corner of the yard.

This is not Warren's first design or his first building experience. Back in 1989, he and his now ex-wife bought some undeveloped property out in the country. Their dream was to build a shop for Warren's business, as well as a Prairie-style home for themselves. Warren designed both the shop and the house. The two-story shop got built first, board by board, entirely by Warren, and he moved his business into it. The site for the house got cleared, but Life intervened in the myriad of ways it tends to and the plans for the house got first moved to the back burner and then shelved permanently.

There is a picture of Warren, taken 20 years ago, sitting on a wall beam while he takes a break from building the shop. He is a little too far away to read his expression accurately, but he looks satisfied and happy. Underneath the photo, his mother wrote "Underway! A dream coming true."

Dreams change. Big plans for a business don't always come to fruition. Marriages that start out full of hope and shared expectations unravel or wither or both. Eventually, the shop became a refuge to which Warren would retreat in his sadness and loneliness. After he got locked out of it in the bitterness and rancor of a protracted divorce, the shop became a symbol of abandoned dreams and broken hopes. In the end, when the divorce was over, Warren walked away from it.

The shop equipment is now in the garage. The shed will be used for storing materials and for the yard tools, including the lawnmower, so that Warren will have maximum shop space in the garage. He is rebuilding his business on the ashes of the old.

Over the last many months, we have talked at length about Warren's starting over with his business, his building, and his life. Like the builder he is, he appreciates the necessity of a solid foundation, whether it is for a shed or a new relationship. Both of us came out of lengthy marriages, terminally troubled in their own ways, and both of us had to establish new routines and new customs as a result. Our falling in love precipitated yet more changes as my life on my own was established while Warren was just starting to reclaim his. For both of us, it has been a time of discovery and joy, all built on the foundation of a lengthy and solid friendship.

Jack's Adventure ends with the little boy sitting on the roof of his hideout, imagining sheriffs, Indians, and bandits all coming to visit.

Warren's adventures, and ours together, are just beginning.