THE END OF THE MATTER
(Part IV in a series)

After the flurry and work of the morning, I began to lag in the afternoon. I finished the painting. I put away the painting equipment. I still needed to wallpaper one wall – oh, and I forgot to mention – I had never wallpapered anything in my life!

I was still encouraged and determined (although getting very weary) as I sat with a roll of wallpaper on my lap, reading instructions. I had a long plastic trough for water, into which I would dip or soak the wallpaper, I had chalk, a plumb line, a couple of wallpaper brushes and smoothers and I was trying to decipher the directions. Then the phone rang.

Actually, I was up on the ladder with a plumb line in my hand, wondering how to “snap” the chalked plumb line against the wall to mark a perpendicular line when the phone rang. It was a friend of mine – Nancy. And, wonder of wonders, Nancy knew how to hang wallpaper! And she said she would come right over to help me! And she did come over. How she helped me was this; she wallpapered the wall by herself – without my help! She was quick, efficient and her work progressed without any snags. She knew what she was doing and she did it well. And so, with that second gift of un-looked-for help, the day of labor was winding down.

The miscellaneous pieces of debris and equipment were cleaned up and put away. The carpet was vacuumed, the furniture was replaced. New curtains were hung. A new rug was laid down. The finishing touches were completed with a large bow on the door and a “Happy Birthday” sign. And the door was shut. The room had been transformed and awaited the homecoming of my husband.

So what was the end of the matter? Well, this is a little bit delicate. When my husband saw the bow on the door, he was surprised…and excited. When he opened the door to the bedroom, he was surprised…but not so excited. His face did not register much of anything. An inconclusive type of shock played upon his facial features. Truly the room had been transformed. As I flitted around the room pointing out the finer details of the “new look”, he had a chance to recover his equilibrium and somewhat gracefully receive his birthday surprise. But…but…but what? But what he wanted, and what he thought I had purchased for him, was a computer!

I am not kidding. It was a bit awkward. In recounting this story, I had actually forgotten about the computer part of it; I just remember all the work. But as I mentioned what I was writing about to my husband this morning, he immediately replied, “And I…wanted a computer.”