February 16, 2023
For the last few weeks, instead of writing I’ve been attempting to discern sheet quality by enlarging photos online, scrubbing toilets (just one toilet, actually), wiping away dust with endless squirts of Lysol, scouring shades of sky blue paint for the one that looks right in our now-bright basement light. (That quest deserves an entire post of its own—hopefully I’ll resume writing once we get through the initial launch to escape velocity.)
We’ve been working at this for about six months, and while the momentum has been slow, about a month ago it felt like we were almost there. The outer basement room was finished. Like, actually finished, with walls and a ceiling covering up the brick and pipe maze. All we had to do was move everything back, hang wallpaper, paint, boom: simple. Surely this wouldn’t take long, surely we’d be operational in no time. I had no idea how many shades of blue we still had to trial run, how many coats of paint to apply, how much sawdust to sweep.
One week before our first guest, my visiting college best friend, was due to arrive, I nearly broke at the bleak reality of our basement’s current state. All I could see was sawdust, drop cloths, piles of stuff to sell. After all this time and so much work, it felt so disheveled, a world away from the serene haven of my mind’s eye. Surely there was no way we’d get it all wrapped up in time.
Yes we will, my husband informs me, matter of factly. He sees what I can’t, and resolutely plows through the punch list: new outlet covers, wallpaper touch ups, sawdust meticulously vacuumed up. Our friend David volunteers to come over Wednesday night to move a couch and assemble beds. His wife Angie drops by Thursday to lend her stylish eye to the furnishings and decor set up. Hey, decor! Yes-after all the sawdust and paint we were down to decor! This book there, this vase here. After widening the garage, sistering termite beams and cleaning out the basement storage, quibbling on the edges about vase placement feels pretty good!
(As a side note, first, thanks Angie & David—you’re the best! Second, it seems right and fitting that this offering is communal from the outset. For this to work, it can’t just be something we do alone. It is my earnest hope the missional use of the space will be a work of the people no less than the bed assembly.)
We stay up late every night last week working out the finishing touches (Lysol, our constant companion), and on Saturday, we welcome Sarah into Rock Creek Sanctuary. Early reviews are promising.
Rock Creek Sanctuary is in business! If your business is making a beautiful space available for free and hoping that it blesses people, and enough people catch the vision and contribute on a voluntary basis that it is sustainable. This whole thing feels like an exercise in trust, funding not the least. But at least in some small way we get to briefly walk by sight. There will always be more we can do with the space, but after six months of dreaming, planning, and working, we’ve finally birth Rock Creek Sanctuary into the world of real, solid things. It feels good, even better than quibbling about vase placement.
Come visit soon!
