IMG_01471, originally uploaded by tara.aukerman.

drops, originally uploaded by tara.aukerman.

The ice is melting.

IMG_0136, originally uploaded by tara.aukerman.

After our wonderful weekend, we had an ice storm. I missed the chance to take photos of the ice in the trees and hanging from things, but I did take some photos in shady places.

perch, originally uploaded by tara.aukerman.

This wooden bird guards the back of our yard… and bothers our dog. =) I liked the branches in the background.

We had a true Near Eastside weekend.

First, Friday. Arsenal Technical High, our local IPS school, is performing its spring musical this weekend. Two kids from church were involved in Beauty and the Beast: Kaylin was a bar wench/flower wreath and Zach ran the spotlight. It was a fun show - the kids did a GREAT job with some pretty tough stuff. They worked hard, and it paid off. =)

The show they performed was the Disney Broadway version. I think the musical and plot additions to the movie for the play adaptation really diminished the story - the music was badly written and the lyrics were laughable. Some of the plot additions took away from the character development. Even with the lackluster script, the kids shone. They’re high school kids, but there were some really artistic moments. Mostly, the play was just… FUN.

*on my soapbox*

You live near a high school. Even if you don’t have kids attending, you should be going to see plays and musicals and concerts. These kids work so hard - and may not have a single person there to see the product of months of study and practice. Your property tax goes to support the school system. Your presence should support the kids themselves.

*off*

Second, Saturday. Went to the 7:30am - yes, AM - prayer meeting at church, then spent an hour or so helping to start cleaning out Janet’s house. This sweet, simple, homely old woman who was a fixture at our church died this past May. Her brother, who owned her house, donated the house to the church at the beginning of the year (for tax reasons, maybe?). It used to be a nice house - she lived there comfortably (and, I’m sure, messily).

Then, along came David F. This man, about the age her son might have been, moved into the vacant half of her double and began insinuating himself into her life. He was a con and she was incapable of seeing how he used her. For years. By the time she died, her house was literally in shambles (the house was getting run down because Janet’s brother doesn’t live locally and didn’t take care of things that needed to be fixed; DF did some “repairs” and really messed things up). Also, it was filled to the brim with junk and garbage and bugs. Just… deplorable living conditions. Throughout the last year and a half of Janet’s life, the health department was all over her house. It was awful.

So, today. Now that Janet has passed away and the house belongs to the church, we’re going to rebuild it for a big family in our congregation. The first step is cleaning out the mounds of trash and junk that were left. We filled a truck bed to overflowing with humongous black trash bags, and ended up filling a large dumpster. It was just a start. There’s several Saturdays’ worth of trash still in there - and we only were working on one side of the double.

It was hard to do, both physically and emotionally. I am allergic to dust and mold… and the place was a hot mess of dust and mold. I was thankful for the cold - I can’t imagine what the dust, mold, and smell would have been like in the spring or summer. Some of the piles included stinky, wet (there are holes in the roof), worn out clothes - Jodi and I happened upon a big pile of dirty underwear and had to leave the house because the smell made us gag so badly. But what bothered me more than my allergies or the assault on my senses was the fact that at the end of Janet’s life, everything she owned, everything that meant something to her, was thrown away without a thought. We were shoveling her precious memories and keepsakes in to trash bags - with a snow shovel and some dustpans.

Of course it had to be thrown away. It was a hazard to health - literally - and most of it was just… junk. We saved maybe an end table, a lamp, and a few books, but everything else will be gone.

I can’t imagine how someone could have lived like that. I also can’t imagine dying and being forgotten like that. Where was her family? Why didn’t they take care of her while she was living? Why didn’t someone kick DF out before her completely ruined her house? Why didn’t they make sure she was okay? And then, when she died, why didn’t they love her enough to take care of her things, at least to clean out her house? Didn’t they want to save some of her treasures? Wouldn’t they have wanted to honor her memory by taking care of the place in which she lived instead of offloading it to the local church to do the work? To do what we would with the eyesore the building had become?

We, at Woodruff Place, loved this old woman. Pastor called her a lamb. We laughed at her antics, but we all loved her - every one of us. We couldn’t do much about her living situation, but we will honor her memory by making her house a home again - a clean, safe, warm place for a family to live.

Still, even thinking of our “project” in this light wasn’t enough to make me feel quite right throwing away everything the woman had ever owned… I have been feeling… heavy… all day.