Love and Shelter

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

There's not really much else we need.

We have the former, the depth of which defies description. Now, it's time to work on the latter.

Today marks the day of the birth of that man up there in the photo: my soul mate, the man I love beyond all reason. He's seated on the bench against this tiny tin thing we have managed, for going on six years now, to make into a home. It's the love that did that, not the material things.

Now, we're about to break ground on a real home. In a few minutes, we'll be meeting with our builder and the plumber, and we'll find out what materials we need to pick over the weekend. If all goes well, it looks as though work will likely begin on Tuesday.

I'm filled with joy . . . and terror. So much we don't know about this process, so much that we have to put in trust with other people. So much money. So much money yet to be raised, and so little time.

Wings always says that he wants to build this home for me. I want to build it for him. And today, the gift I most want want to give him is the peace of mind of knowing that we can get to work next week and be able to buy the remaining materials for the initial phase, pay for the extra fill and the pad and cement and the rebar and the scaffolds and the equipment rentals and the labor and all the thousand and one other things that go into even just the first phase of building a home.

I know it's the weekend, and everyone's looking forward to three days off for holiday festivities. I also know that everyone's stretched really thin, and there are a lot of other folks in need. Believe me, we know; we've squeezed out a few dollars here and there from our few recent sales to kick some over to some of those folks in really dire straits. But if you have a spare five or ten (or twenty or hundred or more; trust me, I'm not turning it down). please consider dropping it in the kitty.  Here's how:

A dear friend got us to the halfway point on this segment yesterday. But things are going to be moving fast now, and I'd like to try to raise the rest as fast as possible. So please, share the links from the site widgets, post it everywhere you can think of, e-mail it to your networks. And if you have a few bucks to help me give Wings a beautiful (and slightly less stressful) birthday, you have my personal and profound gratitude. We have the love; help me give him real shelter.

Thanks, everybody.

~ Aji

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.