There is a book that I read to my kids enough times to memorize it.
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel chronicles a
confident construction worker who believes he and Mary Ann can dig as much in a day as a hundred men could dig in a week. He lands the job of excavating the basement for the new town hall, and at sun up they set to work. The more people who watch, the faster and better they dig. Dirt flies everywhere as they finish each corner, neat and square. The sun sinks behind the horizon just as the fourth corner is completed. But then everyone realizes that they were in such a hurry Mike forgot to leave
a way for Mary Ann to get out of the deep hole. Nay sayers claim that the job is not finished and he shouldn't get paid. But a little boy comes up with a wonderful solution and Mary Ann gets to retire as the furnace for the new town hall.
This week there was a medley of trucks down the street. They worked together to build a house in just one day. The components arrived on eighteen wheelers and fit together like a behemoth's Legos. Cranes as tall as giraffes
hoisted them into place and workmen put gorilla glue in the cracks. The family eager to live inside have reasons for wanting stability. They have been displaced four times in the last twelve months, and been thrust out of homes before that because of fire and mold. This one, they hope, is for keeps.
It looked like it all happened in hours, but actually the work evolved over many months inside a warehouse. Craftsmen who understand wood and plasterboard have labored
methodically to keep the inhabitants warm and dry. Even after they put their socks in the drawers there will be trim to paint, and knobs to install.
Marriages are built over time. Movies would have us believe that couples click together like a prefab, but homes for our hearts deserve as much detailing as a Colonial.
Because marriage works better if it is for keeps.
