Oh man, it was hard to get up early in the morning following the game. I had to though so that I could meet up with them at a decent hour. There is some task that my dad wanted me to help him with. It turns out he wanted to lay down some flooring. It has been a while since I’ve seen them. Time is quickly passing and this time is precious however we spend it. 

  
We had to rip the old floor out. That was easy enough. The floor was snapped together and the pieces came apart kind of easily. There were some floorboards in the way and the drywall isn’t as secure in all the places as it should be. Are the walls even straight? At some point many of these don’t really matter as the arrangement is going to be as true as possible. Those imperfections will have to be masked by the trim along the wall when the time comes. 

  
The first row acts as a foundation to the rest of the floor. This one is going to have to be as true as possible. We spent a bit of time getting it straight and true. There was a bit of a learning curve as we figured out how the pieces snap together forming a nice tight fit between the pieces. The length of the boards when combined together perfectly fit the length of the room. That little gap between the tile and the end of the floor will have to be covered by a threshold somehow. It was a good omen that the fit was so close. We covered the rest of the open floor quickly eating up the material that was bought. The tricky bits were left to the end. 

  
The wall on the other wall was irregular with complicated ends. As I laid out the rest of the material I realized that it was going to be close. I don’t know if we were going to have enough material left. At one point me and dad got to arguing about how to measure out the angle. He was showing me one way and I was doing it a different way. In a moment of clarity I said to him 

“You know dad we are essentially arguing about doing it the same way except your way has the board flipped over.”

We started to laugh about it as we both recognized the humor in the situation. Funny how that works. We worked furiously toward the end trying to finish it all off. It turned out that we were one board short. We had to make a decision as to which part to leave unfinished. Then dad suggested that we use a piece from the old floor. It kind of had a similar color but the pieces don’t  fit th same way. They are a much older system. Somehow though I managed to make it fit. That extra piece needed some coaxing to make it fit properly. It’ll be alright though. The other part by the stairs somehow worked out well as well. There was just enough material. 

  
We had a chance to talk about the troubles that he’s been feeling lately. The kind of troubles that bother a man his age. The physical parts are problematic but it’s the psychic pain that hurts him the most. The same conversation except the one with my mom was carried out later. She carries the same psychic pains but different physical ailments. Finally although not in that order I also had a chance to talk with my lil sis. The psychic pain is the same but the pains in the body lie somewhere else. 

  
Psychic pain is unlike physical pain. It can’t be effectively masked by substances although many try. In this case I don’t know if this isn’t a battle of wills that carries so much weight. The battle between  generations that is the source of strife. Ones wishes not respected and the other seeking independence and some respect. The break from tradition is what is the biggest problem. As this country is our appropriated homeland energy has to be expended in order to maintain that link to the past to the roots. Unfortunately belief comes into this for better or for worse. Somehow this has to be resolved and it looks like there will be a stalemate that will have reprocusions. 

 

 
I see both sides and understand them. There is something that bothers me though. 

  
I’ve been preparing my folks for my decision. They seem to be okay with it. They understand my thinking behind the hard decision. I’ve found a little bit of solace in this. That bit of solace has to float amidst the waves of the surrounding ocean of discontent.