Painting Frenzy

I have lived in the city for almost 12 years now, and every time I go for a walk or bike ride with my son, we always pass these sad-looking fences.

I remembered that at my folk's place, they have in their shed tons of paint. They had stored this paint from the Church when the Church and the community had gathered all their paint to paint some of the buildings out in the Church camp. Kids and counselors had painted all the dull-looking buildings to bring the camp back to life. But they had all this paint, and I thought it would be fun, and doing something for others like this with their permission, of course, would bring back those sad-looking fences.

These fences were a great experience for me and my 11-year -old son. He had a lot of fun sanding and painting. We went around the neighborhood and asked people with a sad-looking fence. You would be surprised how many people thought that we were crazy. They thought all the time and hard work for nothing and money spent was crazy, but they were more than happy to let us fix the fence for them. We often got bottled water from some people and sandwiches.

The fences we did were in bad shape and they needed to be sanded. But again, that came out of my pocket, and I managed to do them without breaking my bank. Plus, I had a lot from when I was doing the apartment inside where we live, and the landlord had supplied a bunch as well. So everything worked out for us.

Altogether we had painted 12 fences throughout the neighborhood. But then I finally ran out of paint. But what my son and I had completed was a huge difference for the community. We painted a fence a day, and by the end of these 12 days, let me tell, we were sore and tired. I couldn't move my arms after all this painting. My arms felt like jelly. Every muscle in my body hurt for a week after.

My son had a lot of experience after this. He will be a professional if he ever wants to take up painting. He was a good sport for working so hard. I had to buy a lot of takeout food that week, but he worked. Worked and met people all through the neighborhood. It was amazing how this project brought so many strangers together and just from us painting everyone's fences.

We go for a walk or a bike ride, those fences that my son and I painted look amazing. The people even keep up the grass by them; the work that went into all this was so worth every aching muscle and every bead of sweat that poured from our heads that week. I must say that I knew I would feel great doing this, but the feeling was greater than that was expected when we finally had completed it. I can't explain the feeling that I had. It was greater than anything for doing this for others and the appreciation we received from doing this. We are recognized in the neighborhood too, the people wave and call out to us when they see us. It is a feeling that makes your heart fuzzy.