Page 50 of Courageous Devotions

“The sink, the medicine cabinet, and all of this isn’t original to the house,” he explained and looked at her. “Can you take my truck and pick out a new sink from the store?”

“How about we go together?” she countered nervously. “What if it’s too big or you don’t like it?”

Colton nodded, realizing she was right. If it was a smaller sink, that meant more tile on the flooring. If it was too big, it wouldn’t clear the doorframe. Plus, there was a good chance he was going to need other supplies.

“You’re right,” he agreed. “Let’s get this emptied, make a list of things, and we’ll run to the store together. Zane, Daddy is going to make quite a mess in here, and it’s going to be really dangerous; if you have to go potty – you’ll need to go outside on the back patio.”

“Outside?”

“Yeah, buddy. There’s only one bathroom in this small house. So for a little bit, you can go potty outside. You can pee on the flowers.”

Eris covered her mouth to muffle her laughter as Zane’s entire face looked aghast with both horror and delight. It had to be a boy-thing, because he remembered going camping with his dad and doing the same thing except he’d been ordered to hit a rock or a downed tree.

“Aim for the bottom of the flowers, buddy – but you have to be quick so the neighbor doesn’t see your stuff.”

“My tuff?”

“Yeah, your stuff,” Colton said blankly, pointing at his pants. “Your stuff you go potty with. Your boy stuff… wait. What do you call it?”

“My special thingie.”

“Yeah, no,” Colton blurted out quickly, glancing at Eris, who shrugged and chuckled. “You’re a big boy, and when you grow up, go to school, or become a man – we all refer to it as our stuff, our junk, or use other big boy words.”

“My stuff…”

“Yeah, if you go with me to work and one of the firemen is in the bathroom using a urinal too – you can’t go in there announcing you are using your ‘special thingie,’” Colton said gently, trying not to laugh. Kids could be so mean, and he didn’t want to get his son picked on for referring to something natural in awkward baby terms. “Well, you’ll make Lance or Alec scream or run away in horror. We’re men – and men call their stuff ‘junk’ okay.”

“Okay,” Zane grinned and nodded, pointing. “Das my junk!”

“Yeah, it is,” Colton chuckled and gave his son a high five. “Having ‘junk’ is pretty cool… isn’t it?”

“Oh, mercy,” Eris muttered, laughing. “I’m going to refill my coffee while you boys admire the fact that you two have ‘junk.’”

“Don’t be jealous,” he called out after her. “Can I have a coffee, too, babe?”

“Don’t be jealous, Mama,” Zane hollered, mimicking him.

“Why don’t you check to make sure your mama isn’t upset because she doesn’t have ‘junk’ like us… okay?” Colton urged gently. “I’m going to get really loud in here and make a big ol’ mess. I bet there are some raspberries in the fridge for you…”

“Ohhh! I wike raspberries, Daddy.”

“I know you do, buddy. Go on, and I’ll show you the mess later – okay?”

Yeah, he really loved being a father.

* * *

Hours later, after three trips to Home Depot to get different items because it seemed like home improvement projects always seemed to snowball, he was finally making some headway. The cast iron tub was at the curb, the damaged tile was bagged in construction bags and deposited in the trash bins, and the sink was right beside it.

Everything he touched seemed to be installed wrong – and he was sincerely glad this was the next project on the books. The sink didn’t have an elbow catch underneath. The lighting had been secured with duct tape instead of insulated nuts. The toilet housing was rotted from age, and there was a metal strap holding the shower piping that was causing the metal to degrade. Yeah, he was glad it was being gutted, even though it was more work.

“Can I help you?” Eris asked, reappearing in the doorway for the fourth time. She was trying, but with Zane there, he really didn’t want him getting cut by debris or breathing in some of this stuff. He’d finally cleaned out everything, had the new cement board up, and was getting ready to start laying the tile enclosure of the shower.

He glanced toward her – and hesitated.

“Where’s Zane?”

“Asleep,” she smiled softly. “It’s nearly eight o’clock.”

---