We've been meaning to get the outside lights up for some time now, and today ended up dry and with a little morsel of time to do it! Hooray!
The ladder we have is only three steps high. Still - I needed to get ON that roof. Just Amelia, Andrew, and I were at home, so I looked at Andrew and said, "Throw all your body weight on this ladder and DON'T. LET. IT. MOVE." I climbed up and then tippy toed quick on the top you-should-never-use-this-as-a-step rung and shot myself up on the roof. The exhilaration I felt when I realized I was not dead or broken was fantastic.
I got all the clips on and then needed to help the kids unravel all the lights. Umm...this meant I needed to get down. Andrew said jump.
Me: "Uh, that's a lot of weight flying at the ground, buddy."
Andy: "Oh yeah, and you have bad knees."
Me: "And a bad ankle."
I sat. For awhile.
I pictured stunt men and thought about tucking and rolling.
Seriously.
Then I laughed at myself.
If you know me well - you know I am uncoordinated. In high school I accidentally gave a guy a bloody nose as he attempted to flip me over his shoulder.
I eyed the unstable 1 inch wide top of that ladder about 5 feet below the rim of the roof. Again I said, "Throw all your body weight on that ladder Andrew.....you too, Millie!"
It was crazy. It was stupid.
I made it down.
The ladder we have is only three steps high. Still - I needed to get ON that roof. Just Amelia, Andrew, and I were at home, so I looked at Andrew and said, "Throw all your body weight on this ladder and DON'T. LET. IT. MOVE." I climbed up and then tippy toed quick on the top you-should-never-use-this-as-a-step rung and shot myself up on the roof. The exhilaration I felt when I realized I was not dead or broken was fantastic.
I got all the clips on and then needed to help the kids unravel all the lights. Umm...this meant I needed to get down. Andrew said jump.
Me: "Uh, that's a lot of weight flying at the ground, buddy."
Andy: "Oh yeah, and you have bad knees."
Me: "And a bad ankle."
I sat. For awhile.
I pictured stunt men and thought about tucking and rolling.
Seriously.
Then I laughed at myself.
If you know me well - you know I am uncoordinated. In high school I accidentally gave a guy a bloody nose as he attempted to flip me over his shoulder.
I eyed the unstable 1 inch wide top of that ladder about 5 feet below the rim of the roof. Again I said, "Throw all your body weight on that ladder Andrew.....you too, Millie!"
It was crazy. It was stupid.
I made it down.
Andrew became the roof man. After I made it down he told me that he gets up on the roof by climbing the tree on the side of our house. He was up in like 15 seconds waving to me from the crest of the roof. He did a great job and it was a lot of fun to work together.
Millie spent her time dutifully tangling all the lights as fast as I could untangle them, and once we finished it Andrew ran to plug them in. He did so ceremoniously and.......one whole strand didn't work. Instead of crying, we laughed. It really seemed ridiculously funny.
So maybe we'll redo it on Monday, or maybe not. Maybe this year I will just look at half my house lit up and smile and remember how much silly fun we had doing it.
4 comments:
Oh man! I'm glad you survived. You've gotta love times like that. Especially the lights not working. Laughter is where its at.
Good job Andrew. Cheri glad you made it. those are thing you will remember for ever. LU
p.s. good pictures. wher was Jake?
Hahaha! Oh my! What fun! I'm glad you are not broken and that your little happy elves were so helpful. What a fun memory!
What a fun day--and a fun post! You are seriously super mom. I wouldn't even think about doing that. Which is why our lights were only in the bushes this year. The children did not approve.
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