Revising Outdoors…

When my husband suggested turning our attention this spring to outdoor renovation, I thought of a million other indoor home projects that I thought should take precedence.  Our 1980’s kitchen.  Replacing the carpeting in the upstairs hallway. Repainting the bedrooms. But a new patio with lighting and landscaping?  I watch HGTV and the one thing I know is to ask when considering undertaking any major home improvement project is the Big Question--Which project provides the greatest Resale Value? My husband however, is not a fan of HGTV and insisted on the patio.  I conceded defeat and construction began in late spring.  But during a vacationless summer that found me most often sitting in my office at my desk working on my very first young adult novel, it was our new patio that offered me brief reprieves from work and made summer feel like….well, summer.    It was a warming stone for our newly adopted foster dog Miles. A meeting place for my book and writers’ groups. An office and workout space for my visiting daughter who worked remotely, a napping spot, a stage and dance floor when I brought out my Sonos speaker, a place to relive my camp days with my youngest in front of the firepit roasting marshmallows and making s’mores and, of course, it became the place where we gathered more than ever before with friends and family to eat, laugh and talk often long into the evening, eager to make up for the time lost during the pandemic. We hosted our community’s first Juneteenth gathering and Father’s Day cocktails.  I don’t actually know if this was the wisest investment, and I no longer care.  This summer, our patio, and the gathering place it became, centered me, grounded me and gave me the nourishment I needed to return to my desk, day in and day out to do the often difficult work of crafting and shaping a story into something that resonates with readers.  A wise investment...