The sun slowly creeps over the hills and trees one summer morning with birds hurrying to and fro gathering their morning breakfast. The newly cut grass shimmers with the morning dew. The paperboy rides by on his bright red 1972 Schwinn bicycle throwing papers which narrowly misses rose gardens only to end up perfectly landing on the front porches of Bremerton's finest. Reba rolls out of bed and puts her robe on, walks down the hall heading for the coffee pot. As she passes through the kitchen, insulation from the ceiling gently floats down and lands in her hair like soft snow on a December morning. Robb, outside doing yard work, looks up to see his beautiful wife of 11 years open the kitchen window and instead of throwing a good morning kiss, smacks the gold coffee filter on the side of the house allowing last night coffee grounds to shower across the garden( It all happened in slow motion of course). The birds stop gathering their morning breakfast and the paperboy loses his balance, smashing into the neighbors garbage cans. This is the house of the LeRoy's.
It consists of Rebecca making scrambled eggs out on the deck at 0730 in her robe with hair put up into a bun for optimum efficiency. It is learning to make a healthy dinner for 5 using only a microwave, one bowl, and an icecream scoop. It is putting up with a large hole in the ceiling of our kitchen which doesn't really guard us from the elements. It is living with a large, bright green, dumpster welcoming family and friends at the entrance to our driveway. It is also answering the question ,"When do you think you may have your kitchen done?" And the short answer to that question is that we don't know.
Even though life is kind of strange and crazy right now, we are still trying to keep things "normal" so that the kids end up less damaged than they would be. We decided to have Mark and Sue (Reba's parents) over for dinner and surprise, we were barbecuing. We said we would just throw something together and that it would be no problem. We had the side burner going with artichokes and meat on the grill....life was too good at this point. As I was outside on the deck overlooking the neighbors yard, I thought to myself....."You know, we have had this propane tank for a long time and haven't really had to switch it for over six months. I sure hope it lasts for the next couple days, or at least through tomorrow's breakfast." Right about that time, I heard a "pop". I slowly put down the ice cream scoop and opened the barbie and no flame was in sight. The boiling water slowly calmed and the sound of burgers sizzling faded away. I took one good drink of my beer and headed inside to share the news with the family. We ended up having an eclectic meal with mostly cooked artichokes, sliced ham from the deli, cheese and crackers. Don't you worry, if we ever invite you over for dinner, you can expect the best from us. Note to self....Pick up more propane before morning and restock cold cuts in case this sort of thing happens again. Boy there are a lot of life's little lessons to learn in one day.
We have learned to laugh a lot more at ourselves and our situation along with some tears at times. The thing that has been great is the kids feel like we are on one big camping trip. They know if they spill on the carpet, mom and dad will most likely say, "Oh don't worry about it". We do really want to get moving on things and anyone who knows us realizes that we are not procrastinators, but things always take longer than anyone thinks. This is our life and we are livin it to the fullest. Thanks for your time.
Robb (The man with two first names)
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