roundcorners_IHB
New member
If your marriage or relationship was to be compared to an Irvine house; what kind of house would it be? On our wedding day, my wife and I thought that we?ve made it; we were going to move into our new turn-key Portla-Springs model home McMansion and live happily ever-after. All we need to bring was our cloths and our toothbrushes.
Little did we know that our McMansion was more like a 70?s University Park fixer-upper townhouse! The place was drafty and cold, it was winter and the heater was broken. In the summer, the A/C was weak, and we spend days hot tempered with our blood boiling over. Certain light switches in the house didn?t work and upon careful examination, there were even exposed wiring. I found out the hard way when I got shocked a couple of times. The wife was mad at me for not using a proper inspector and I was sent numerous times to the dog house.
We have since, found a good contractor, really invested the time, money and energy into our house. We?ve also reached out to our neighbors and they came around us to really support us. A few times, we even had to sleep over because our house was in such disrepairs. Today we see our house as a work-in-progress. There is always something that needs to be done. The wife got pretty handy since being married too; she?s had to learn how to use a hammer, an electric screw driver and monkey wrench. We are even discovering new uses for old rooms; and we finally cleaned out the garage full of junk. And don?t tell the HOA, but we are in the process of framing an addition! The floorboards and dry wall are going up soon.
I was speaking to our Indian neighbor the other day; and he happened to mentioned that he and his wife had an arranged marriage back in India before they immigrated to Irvine. On their wedding day, they saw their relationship as a raw piece of Newport Coast land. In their culture, the reason why arrange marriages work so well for so long, is that both partners know, that they both have to work hard to build a foundation from scratch. Both partners come into the relationship, shovel ready, eager to break ground.
Remember, McMansions require preventative maintenance too; all houses do. You can?t simply dust off the cupboards and call it work. If you find your house today in dire shambles as we did; take heart, trust me, we?ve all been there. You have to pick up the tools first; don?t wait for your spouse to. Share with your spouse a vision of what your house can look like and be sure to talk about the view from the kitchen window.
Little did we know that our McMansion was more like a 70?s University Park fixer-upper townhouse! The place was drafty and cold, it was winter and the heater was broken. In the summer, the A/C was weak, and we spend days hot tempered with our blood boiling over. Certain light switches in the house didn?t work and upon careful examination, there were even exposed wiring. I found out the hard way when I got shocked a couple of times. The wife was mad at me for not using a proper inspector and I was sent numerous times to the dog house.
We have since, found a good contractor, really invested the time, money and energy into our house. We?ve also reached out to our neighbors and they came around us to really support us. A few times, we even had to sleep over because our house was in such disrepairs. Today we see our house as a work-in-progress. There is always something that needs to be done. The wife got pretty handy since being married too; she?s had to learn how to use a hammer, an electric screw driver and monkey wrench. We are even discovering new uses for old rooms; and we finally cleaned out the garage full of junk. And don?t tell the HOA, but we are in the process of framing an addition! The floorboards and dry wall are going up soon.
I was speaking to our Indian neighbor the other day; and he happened to mentioned that he and his wife had an arranged marriage back in India before they immigrated to Irvine. On their wedding day, they saw their relationship as a raw piece of Newport Coast land. In their culture, the reason why arrange marriages work so well for so long, is that both partners know, that they both have to work hard to build a foundation from scratch. Both partners come into the relationship, shovel ready, eager to break ground.
Remember, McMansions require preventative maintenance too; all houses do. You can?t simply dust off the cupboards and call it work. If you find your house today in dire shambles as we did; take heart, trust me, we?ve all been there. You have to pick up the tools first; don?t wait for your spouse to. Share with your spouse a vision of what your house can look like and be sure to talk about the view from the kitchen window.
