The All Year Struggle

A struggle can be described as an ongoing longtime attempt to achieve something. All year, I was trying to achieve something. As I was trying to reach my goal, I realized I needed to achieve even more. So, my goal was to finish my studies. I was working toward a certificate of completion.

During that time, I needed to work on a renovation. I had learned the skills I needed from my father. He always said he wanted me to know how to fix up houses just in case I ever needed to make my own repairs or get into real estate. He also suggested it for years. I thought it was a good way to pick up skills and get to spend time with my father. I knew that was important to do. I also gained his insight. I have those useful memories with him.

So, I had acquired a property. I had thought he would want to oversee the renovation. He was good at coordinating the jobs and actually repairing old houses. It wouldn’t be the first time we renovated a property. I soon realized I would be doing this renovation solo. My father and I had fixed up properties together before. This one would be the first one on my own.

It was a bunch of small jobs to do and a few bigger ones too. I can only do so much. I did hire some help with the bigger projects. I actually haven’t completed it entirely yet. I was slowed down a lot. I kept getting called away and actually didn’t even live in the area any more. So, it has definitely been a challenge. I have managed to get almost all the old ugly aspects out of that place. I had begun to put in the new materials. So, it was a classic “out with the old in with the new type situation”.

I also needed to survive and be a little girl’s teacher. I had the role of homeschool teacher all year. That includes grading papers, spelling test, and much more. That’s right no babysitters or days off. So, that meant I needed to work at creating a new way for myself while doing all those other things too. I earned the name super mom from a friend. That made me smile.

The little girl also didn’t want to be in an old creepy house. She didn’t automatically see the house’s potential. So, those factors also effected how much progress I could get done. I had the help of a handheld game system and good ole homework assignments to keep her occupied while I worked. Some of my oldest friends took the place of my dad’s old crew to help me out. I was so surprised when I learned it was hard to find someone to work on the repairs with me. We assumed it was because of the pandemic. I had thought people were always ready to take on a job. I heard it a lot before I needed them. So, it has been taking longer but it is finally getting closer to how I want it to look.

I worked on teaching and renovating in the daytime and studying at night. After all the bouncing around from project to project, I finally learned enough to receive my certificate of completion. I had put a lot of effort into it. So, achieving that goal was my accomplishment and sense of relief. It doesn’t mean my work is done but I did actually complete something. Nowadays, I’ve learned to be satisfied with my small achievements. I’ve also learned not to overlook those little achievements. It helps me realize progress is being made.