John and I needed to fix the tattered wood structure barely holding back a portion of land in front of our dock and build a strong structural wall in its place. The task at hand seemed monumental. First, we had to agree on what we wanted and layout a plan to follow. Then rip out the old structure, which created quite a mess, but we had our vision to follow. Once that was done, we now had to go and get the stones, 180 to be exact and each weighing in at roughly 12 pounds or so. We thought about having them delivered but found the stones varied and many in the pallet were broken. So, we handpicked our stones, 18 at a time and loaded them into the SUV sans truck, and headed to our waterfront, where we had to carry each stone down the stairway of the steep embankment. We had 10 trips in all and this was weight training at its best.
The first course had to be laid down very level, and this took some time to do. It was crucial we got this perfect and would set the tone for all the other courses to follow. This part for me was filled with fear, of not doing it right, and always wondering if the alligator was nearby lurking in the lake. I had to have my butt facing the lake and I was pretty much level with the water’s edge at this point.
As we put in each new course, the wall started to take shape and we marveled at how great it was starting to look. We celebrated our work and kept going. Once we finished and put the capstones on, it was a full-fledged wall—strong, beautiful, and doing its job.
Now that it’s done, I began to see that this wall is like fighting cancer or disease. It’s takes 100% of your effort, it takes careful planning, commitment, picking and choosing the right methods, having faith, having courage, staying on course, believing and having the will to get it done. Each stone was like one forward step of fighting. Each day, we did a little bit and kept our focus on the goal. With each action we saw change and with each change we were more motivated to take action. Staying positive and always keeping the goal set in front of you is important to healing. We must not look at the entire picture but on each course that will bring us to the completion of healing.
The pictures below are of the finished wall in front of the small dock still being repaired and the other is what we started with. What comes next is our boat rack pergola design. Stay tuned…
