Two weeks ago I spent one weekend at a rundown house helping to fix it up. Me and my Dad started by rolling our tired selves out of bed at an early seven inn the morning. We got up and had a small breakfast just coffee and eggs, and hopped into the car. We were headed to Detroit to fix up a house.

We loaded our tools and things into our minivan and hit the road. When we got there all we could do was stare, because the house was so horrific. There were holes in the roof all over, caved in from years of neglect and water damage. None of the windows remained intact, all of them either broken or stolen by thieves to sell to pawn shops.

We got to work immediately to fix this house and hopefully spruce up the neighborhood’s appearance. I got to work raking the yard of the litter. This “litter” consisted of beer bottles, cigarette
, fast food bags, cups, and lots of other gross things. While being one of the grosser things to do, I felt good doing it because it was helping someone.

My Dad was busy fixing the roof, nailing and cutting boards for the roof structure. Tongue sticking out the side of his mouth, he stared intently at the power saw, trying to figure out how to make a cut. He kept trying though, and at the end of the weekend the roof looked as good as it had when it was originally built.

We worked harder than we had ever worked, and at the end of the weekend, the house was in good enough shape for a family to live in. We had replaced the windows, fixed the roof, cleaned up the yard, and helped out the interior a lot too. Hopefully the house would go to a lucky family in need, and they would have a sheltered place to live. And if they had kids their kids would have a nice place to grow up in and call their home.

My Dad and I had spent a weekend as father and son helping someone else. And as we pulled away from the house we knew that we had made a difference in someone’s live somewhere. Maybe it was the neighbor that was tired of looking at the run down dump. Or maybe it was the family that got to move in to the house. Or it could have been as simple as a car driving by and the driver thinking “man what a nice house”. Maybe that would urge that person to do something nice for someone else. The end point being that I made a difference. Man, what a good way to spend a weekend.