Garage Hook-ups and Hang-ups

Chuckle #475 | November 23rd, 2011
 scroll down to leave a message

Rome wasn’t built in a day. That’s what I told my husband when he complained about not being able to fit a car in our garage. Let’s just say that the garage "situation” was a source of mild but constant friction between us, the elephant in the room, the poop on the shoe, the cap off the paste… You get the picture.

But I have good news. The car fits. And it only took me about a decade to accomplish the impossible. How did I do it? First, I joined “hoarders anonymous”; then I had three tag sales followed by a small, but effective bonfire. Then had my husband install about 25 hooks and floor to ceiling shelves on EVERY wall.

He was so ecstatic about finally getting a car in the garage that he barely complained at all. (“Barely”, in this case, is a relative term.)

I don’t know if other women get as excited as I do about organizing stuff. I literally tingle with anticipation. The Container Store catalogue does for me what the Sports Illustrated Swim Suit issue does for guys, I think. I get goose bumps all over.

You have to understand. The garage has been my nemesis, my arch enemy for a very long time. Over the years I’ve shifted things around, like a giant shell game, but could never seem to clear more than a one-butt path through the ski helmets, beach chairs, rollerblades, basketballs, ice skates, craft stuff, and lifejackets.

When we bought our house fifteen years ago, we were not put off by the fact that it only had a one car garage. What were we thinking!? If we’d bought a house with a Taj Mahal sized garage we would have argued less and gone hot tubbing more. If we were smarter, we’d now have plenty of room to accommodate our kids when they – inevitably - return home to live after college.

The Pew Research Center has reported an astounding rise in the number of Americans living in multi-generational homes since 2008. This information cannot possibly surprise anyone. With congress doing its hapless best to destroy our economy, I am convinced that we will soon all be living together - grandkids, parents and grandparents. Whether it’s as ‘one big happy family’ remains to be seen.

The thought of my future wouldn’t bother me so much if I had a bigger garage. A three car garage could easily be pimped out with a mini fridge and a couple space heaters for the in-laws (or for the college boomerangs.) And there’d STILL be room for a car.

At the rate things are going in America, most of us boomers won’t be downsizing into a two bedroom condo in Antigua anytime soon. And my personal dream of turning my son’s bedroom into a craft/sewing utopia when he leaves for college will have to wait until the economy turns around and I can be sure that he’s gone for good.

I wonder what my husband would say if I set-up my sewing machine in our spacious new garage? Of course that would leave me with no place to stash the in-laws in the event of a complete economic meltdown.

But maybe I shouldn’t be so focused on the garage. I hear that sheds are surprisingly affordable. The shed commune could be the answer to America’s multi-generational housing needs.

Just don’t call it a “shed” when it comes time to discuss it with the in-laws. I’m going with “private studio apartment”.
----------------------------------------------
Get your Weekly Chuckle via email at http://www.laughoutloudmom.com/
Copyright 2008-2011, LOLmom.com, Greenwich CT