Warmer

I have spent the past few days self exiled from my home. Because workers have been installing a new heating system and occupying my space. They are in my two warmest and favorite rooms, the family room and my bedroom. I cannot tolerate seeing them there or sharing the space. I'd rather be gone.

These were nice guys, very respectful, clean and quiet. But they were others in my space. One guy noticed all my handgun magazines (the ammo holding kind) and wanted to talk guns and shooting. And talk some more. Being the antisocial person I tend to be in my private spaces, I was very uncomfortable.

So, I left home. For the hours that they were in my home, I was gone. On the first day, I drove home three times only to turn around and leave again when I saw the trucks still in the driveway. (We should have factored my forced absence and subsequent shopping into the budget.)

Yesterday was the workers last day here. The system is in, functioning beautifully. The house is warmer than its been in the three years we've lived here. Maybe I will ache a little less and have fewer episodes of Reynaud's vasospasm this winter.

My nest is again my own. I am warmer, and there are no strangers tramping about.