A Disruptive Factor - Learning to Love Change in My Life

Where's My Kitchen?!?

My morning routine during the week is simple:

1. Wake up early
2. Go downstairs to exercise for 15 – 20 minutes
3. Shower
4. Put up the hot water for tea
5. Get myself ready for the day (brush teeth, shave, put on some clothes)
6. Make eggs for breakfast
7. Write while eating
8. Clean up breakfast
9. Finish getting dressed, and,
10. Leave the house to go to work.

I like the routine and the habit.  During the weekend, there is some variation, for example, I go to the gym and I do not go to work.    Whether I am fully refreshed from a good night’s sleep, or exhausted, the routine is repeatable and varies very little.  That is until the morning where my kitchen disappeared!

That is right, the kitchen sprouting legs, got up and left behind a gaping hole!  My morning routine items 4,6,7, and 8 had been disruptive.  Like some kind of spreading thought, the soft flooring from the living room and den decided to follow the kitchen out the front door (in defiance by not sneaking out the back door); there went morning activity #2.

We have held onto our kitchen and den for over 17 years.  We were comfortable in our environment.  OK, so the den had a spackle spot in the ceiling where a hole existed for a few years.  The kitchen had the same from water damage that was first patched four years ago (not painted) and then fixed after the roof was done a year and a half ago (not painted).  We knew where the tape needed to be replaced on the cabinets where the laminate was peeling away and when to push down the linoleum floor when it curled up near the counter by the sink.  The final straw was the last two months using a reading light instead of replacing the overhead.  Even an advocate for change sometimes feels comfortable where he is at. 

We have lived in this house for over 17 years, and the truth is that the kitchen / living room and dining room were the only rooms that we did not touch, renovate or update.  As you can see from above, to say it was time is an understatement!  We are not the only ones to experience this, but living out of a single room, using a microwave to cook, opening the fridge which is next to the TV and a few feet from the couch is weird.   This has been a challenging, disruptive period in our lives; but as with any change, we reminded ourselves of why we were going through this, what the goals were and the future benefits. 

Looking out the new window