Hi there! Cindy here again. You know one thing Garrett & I noticed right away after we chose to take on a fixer-upper, was all the parallels between renovating an older home, & getting married later in life. I'll tell you what I mean. While I was packing box after box at my Spring Hill home, getting ready to move, I decided to turn on HGTV & check out those renovation shows. I had not been interested in them before, but I wasn't living in a home that needed renovating. I began to notice the terms that these construction guys & designers used - "good bones," "mid-century modern," "retro," "shiplap," to mention a few. When Garrett & I moved into our 4500-sq ft, 1977 "mid-century" house, we began to discover it was anything but mid-century modern. To quote my southern mother, it was "cattywhompus." The layout was impractical, the storage was minimal, there were a zillion different floors (bamboo for a minute, then tile then hardwood then carpet), no one could figure out where the real front door was, the dryer vented into a blue Rubbermaid container with holes cut in it, dark wood paneling everywhere, the list goes on. So for the last year, Garrett & I have either been tearing out & replacing, or painting over what we cannot afford to tear out & replace. The "Eventually" category has a LOT of future projects in it! He says this house is structurally sound, which is great, but it is very dated & many things are in disrepair.

Jump from the literal to the emotional: our relationship & marriage is just like this house. We have a strong foundation but our "house" is in need of repair, reconstruction & redecorating. The "Cindy" room is bright & quirky, but has a lot of old stuff in it that is slowly being cleared out. Some stuff we can keep, some stuff doesn't need to be used in this marriage & only succeeds in cluttering up the room. Garrett has taken the bars off of the windows, put away the machine guns & suit of armor, & is cleaning the blood off the walls. There are a few closets that have the doors tightly locked. Unwilling to let Garrett go in there. I will clean those out myself. I just don't know how to yet.

The "Garrett" room looked orderly but pretty conservative in its decor when I first went in there. He was slowly taking down pictures of his wife & explaining how he had "adapted" to her throughout the marriage. I have helped him paint the walls a bright color reflective of his daring personality, have encouraged him to "release the monkeys" (he really is a barrel of monkeys), dance, enjoy wine for the first time, be free. We are reconstructing his room into a play room, where he is free to be his wild & creative daredevil self. I discovered no locked doors, no bars on the windows, no blood on his walls. He is willing & excited for me to make myself at home & help him brighten up the place.

I lived in my Spring Hill house for 15 years. It was where my children grew up. Great neighborhood, wonderful neighbors. When Garrett married me, & he & his son moved in, I felt like they were guests. The house had too many memories - good & bad. God spoke to me one day & said, "If you two are going to make it you are going to have to get a place of your own." I knew He was right. Purchasing this renovation gave us a clean start. It has given us a million things to do together. We are creating something new on an old foundation. We are renovating a house as we renovate our hearts. Some parts we keep, some we throw out, some we paint over & decide later. The house is looking more like "us," & so is our relationship. And the deeper you dig the more you discover!

Stay tuned!