I’ll go ahead and tell you what specific day and time works for everyone. None of them. None of the times work.

It comes as no surprise that our neighborhood association board, a volunteer group of parents who have enough going on already, struggles to meet in person. 

Because someone has to do it, we make landscaping, communication, and social decisions largely by proxy and on the backs of whoever has the time slash motivation. Maintaining the status quo has historically been good enough. Nobody is asking for another expense or commitment. 

“Is he always like that?”

The contractor turns to my wife inquisitively, with a slight betrayal of annoyance. We are in our kickoff meeting and he’s getting a sense of the kind of person that he’ll be dealing with for the next five months, that’s if all goes to plan.

In one continuous motion, I had scooped an item from our counter, placed it in the trash, noticed the trash was full, lifted the bag out, and exited the house with it over my shoulder. Meanwhile, the two other adults were still carrying on. 

“Yes. He is always like that,” sighed the wife…