Build day in Norcross

Today we worked with Rebuilding Together, an organization which focuses on repairing dilapidated homes of low-income people. We went to the home of Mr. Jones, who turned 89 today. His home is large but is in really bad shape. There is a leaky roof and a rat problem, unstable floors, holes in the walls, and way too much furniture. Some people worked on the roof and built a new railing for the porch stairs, and some (me included) painted the inside. All the rooms were pretty dark, and since Mr. Jones has glaucoma, the dark paint makes it even harder than usual for him to see. Hopefully the white paint will help, though he also depends on us putting back things where we found them so he knows where to expect them.

On a break I sat down and talked to him, and we ended up chatting for the better part of an hour. I learned that he served in the Navy in WWII, was a very skilled ping pong player, went to the World's Fair in 1939 where he saw a television for the first time, and likes Obama because "he always talks about helping people". He dazzled me with his ability to remember exact dates of things. While it's not surprising that he remembers the exact dates of his wife's and son's deaths, I was shocked when he rattled off exact dates of his first plane ride, a trip to San Diego in the 70s, the day he met his wife, and other life events. He asked me about Seattle and how I came to be in Georgia, and told me about how his son "developed cancer and that took him away from here."

It was somewhat frustrating for us to spend so much time on painting, when that really is the least of his needs in a lot of ways. But we can't exactly go through his stuff and convince him to throw things out so he has room to move around (or put in a bed; he currently sleeps on the sofa), nor can we do skilled labor like replacing the floor in the bathroom or tearing out the old appliances in the kitchen. But the Rebuilding Together staff seem dedicated to helping him as much as they can, so I'm hoping Mr. Jones will have a more comfortable place to live in the near future.

After the day of work we had another phenomenal donated dinner. This time a local cafe that is usually only open for breakfast and lunch stayed open just for us, and we had a taco buffet that was delicious. A cover band was playing Beatles tunes and other fun stuff and they passed around shakers and hand drums so we could all get into the action. We sang at the top of our voices and got our groove on and generally had a great time. Afterwards we walked back to the Boys and Girls club, and along the way Chris alerted us to a huge magnolia tree that we could actually get inside. It was like a different world, with branches and deep green leaves all around and the sunlight streaking through. I wished I had discovered it sooner--it would have been a great place read a book or recite sonnets or listen to the whisperings of one's heart that are only heard in places of great beauty.

Tomorrow is a big day: 100 miles of riding. In cycling speak, this is called a century, and is something of a demarcation between cyclists and people who fiddle around on a bike. I'm a little nervous, but mostly excited. We'll be making our second state line crossing, into Alabama, another state I've never visited. We'll be getting up at 4:30, so the 6:30 start time should allow us to take it slow and have the bulk of our riding hours before the day really heats up. If I live to tell the tale, I'll let you know how it goes!