2009 September 08 | Suzanne Earley

That’s Mark celebrating after painting the last board of siding at the very top of the peak. It still needs a second coat, but the house is now entirely red.

For reference, in this photo he’s at ground level. (He was squishing out as much paint as he could from the brush I had just finished using). Make note of that bottom row of windows.

In this photo, he’s climbing onto the topmost board, which is absolutely as high as he could go on the scaffolding. Even he didn’t like being up that high. I told him I’d catch him if he fell. At the very bottom of the photo, you can see the very TOP of the bottom row of windows.

It gives me the willies just THINKING about going up that high.

I did all of MY painting standing on the ground or sitting in this chair:

If I was standing, the chair held my paint can. I’m a really messy painter, which is why it looks like somebody bled out in my chair.

And yes, I sat in those splotches, so my painting pants and shorts have matching splotches.

Now, to paint the doors and the trim and move on to a million other projects.

When the boys were younger, I volunteered at school a lot, but as they got older, the teachers were less interested in parent volunteers. And then, of course, there was the whole “opening a shop” thing.

Well, with budget cuts, came a loss of aides in the classrooms. One of the 5th grade teachers sent a note home asking for parents who could come in to help in the mornings last week. I don’t open the shop until 10, so I e-mailed her back and said I’d be happy to come in Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I saw her last Thursday, and we chatted about it a little. She told me that she had one student that needed to have someone help him with writing and reading assignments, partly to help him actually read the work, but also to keep him on task.

I arrived this morning and was not really surprised to learn that the young man that needed help was none other than the young man that had pushed Will into the fence on Friday.

My inner-10-year-old had to resist the urge to wring his neck or push his head into his desk.

My outer-37-year-old realizes that no matter what I think of this kid, helping him helps every other kid in that room. If I can keep him on task, the teacher has the opportunity to work with the other students.

And maybe, if he knows he has to see me twice a week, he’ll think twice about doing something obnoxious to my kid again.