Jenifer Beaudean

Seeker of Simplicity and Executive Coach

Just When You Think You’re Done…

“So what do you think?” I asked our electrician.

There was a long pause.

We were standing in front of the electrical box inside the “little house,” which boasted a tangle of wires heading in every direction. The mess extended to outside the house, where a wire literally went through a hole in the gutter. Now call me crazy, but it has always been my understanding that electricity and water don’t mix. Alarming? A little.

“Hmmm,” Dave replied, shining his flashlight on the spaghetti that makes up our electrical service, “I think I need to come back when I have more time, really look, and think about it.”

Think about it?

When your electrician tells you he needs to ponder the electrical box it sort of spawns a feeling of dread followed by dollar signs that appear over his head.

A few weeks later, he called. He had stopped by the house to “think about it.”

“It’s actually not that bad,” he said, “We have some work to do and God knows it looks horrendous but the box really isn’t that bad.”

Okay.

In the weeks that followed, Dave stopped by. He hung the dining area chandelier, changed out some outlets, worked extensively on the box, and finally pronounced it “Safe.”

But there was a footnote in his parting words.

“It’s okay for now,” he said, as he packed his tools and shook my hand, “But in all likelihood it will need some additional work. See how it goes.”

See how it goes? With electricity?

Fast forward to October as we moved in. Now we were living in the little house and there ensued lots of electrical discoveries, especially in the kitchen. Two outlets on one wall were dysfunctional – the top plug worked but the bottom plug did not. Then, on the other side of the kitchen, we quickly learned that we couldn’t run the Keurig coffee maker and the microwave at the same time or risk blowing the fuse. Finally (this one is my favorite), when the water pump goes on, the overhead lighting in the kitchen dims.

Ugh.

Just when you think it’s done… It’s clearly. Not. Done.

And I was considering how many things are like this. You think you’re done, but then…

For example, Christmas or Hannukah package wrapping… you think you’re done and then… whoops… there’s another gift under the bed you forgot. Or with bills. You think you’ve paid them all for the month and then, surprise, there’s one more lurking in the mailbox. It happens to us all. We think a box is checked, that we’re finished, that it’s all set… and then…

So, we’ll call Dave this week and go to Phase 3 of our electrical work on the little house.

And then… I pray then… we’ll be able to call it “Done.”

(Until the next thing…)

On a happier note, some of the electricity is working just fine and lights our 2017 Christmas tree, the first one at the little house

3 Replies to “Just When You Think You’re Done…”

  1. Great story. Whenever I do jobs for people, I like to tell them they are done, but the reality is that the next job is just around the corner. Sometimes litteraly. Bite off the bits you can and keep plugging (No pun intented) away.

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