Thursday, February 16, 2012

Meet Larry. The Painter.

I'm cracking up at all of your comments on my last post. Here are a few answers to your questions.

Yes. Larry is his real name. When he calls he says, "Hi. This is Larry. The Painter." It makes me smile every time because a) he's the only Larry I know, and b) I'd recognize his voice and southern accent anywhere.

Larry is exactly 64 years old. I know this because Larry IS my Eldin. What a great comparison! Larry has basically become part of the family. We talk as he paints. He listens to me as I ponder why I have boxes stored under my bed for items I bought over five years ago. I listen to him as he tells me about "Daddy" and how his advice was to "do something for a living that nobody else wants to do because then they'll pay you good money to do it for them."

While he's painting he also helps me do little projects I never got to. He cut down the curtain rod in the living room that was hung too wide and has bugged me for years. He changed the air filter on my bedroom ceiling. And then proceeded to vacuum out the vent for me while he was at it. Yes. Larry is my Eldin.

When Larry painted our house about six years ago, he was raising his grandson. Today his grandson is a senior in high school. And he's now raising another grandchild. A four year old little girl. When I heard this I knew exactly what to do with the bag of beautiful dresses that LB outgrew (or refused to ever wear). I sent them home with him. He came back the next day and said it made his wife's day. Yeah! And on Valentine's Day we gave him a dozen gorgeous eggs. He had told me about the chickens he used to have. So I instantly knew it would make the perfect Valentine for him.

Luckily, Larry realized how stressed out I was becoming. That I wasn't able to find the right colors. So he quickly rearranged his work schedule to give me the rest of the week off. I am so relieved. But you know what? I miss him.

9 comments:

Megan said...

Oh my goodness, I love Larry the Painter. Can you just keep finding things for him to do so he can stay forever??!!

Dana @ Bungalow'56 said...

This could have been any one of the posts I wrote about Tony. He was our Basement renovator extrodinaire. We still miss him and he's been gone since September.
Dana

Karina said...

Couldn't be any cuter. Tell Larry we said "hey" from CA. I love that you shared those amazing thoughtful gifts with him for his family. Have a great weekend.

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

Where did you find him? He sounds like a gem!

Pam said...

most people can't WAIT to get contractors out of their homes! You are very lucky my girl!! I don't know any Larry's either...can't wait to see the finished product :)

Kerri said...

How sweet of Larry to help you with some other projects...he sounds like a very kind man. And, how sweet of you to give him eggs and dresses. It makes perfect sense to me why the two of you get along so well! :)

kim {the non-mom blogger} said...

That's excellent advice from Larry's Dad.

Nicolle said...

I love Larry, and that he has a southern accent, and that he's a sweet grampa, and he tells you stories and does things for you around the house. I think you need to adopt him.

Cathy M~(checkitoff) said...

That is awesome that Larry has so many talents and he is willing to help you!! Are you really still having trouble selecting the color? If so I will repeat my advice to you from an earlier post:" ....Also, it may be worth it to hire an interior designer to give you color advice. That would be worth a few bucks to get ya started!!!!"

I am sure it will look great when Larry is finished!! hugs, cathy