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I hear the sound of the hammer.

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The hammering continues. Oldest is putting up Halloween decorations outside.

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That stupid “signpost”. It’s oddly constructed so you can never give it a good enough whack, and it just doesn’t want to go into the ground.

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It’s the single-most frustrating holiday decoration we have. Yet, every year they want to put it up.

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Man… how long has he been out there working on it?

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Nah… I’ve got my own work to tend to. If he needs my help, I’ll wait for him to ask for it.

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OK, now it’s driving me crazy. But he’s still working on it.

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I go downstairs to look out the window. A friend has come over to help him. They pull out the hose to water the ground to soften things up.

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Still hasn’t said a word to me.

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And finally, he gets it in.

He never gave up. It’s an amazingly frustrating thing to work on, but there were no complaints. Only dedication. Only persistence.

I know it’s a small thing — putting up a Halloween decoration — but it’s not a small thing. He gets frustrated quickly, and even if he sees it through to the end, many times he’ll get bitchy about it. But not this time. When he came in, I told him what a good job he did. He took the complement. I smiled. 🙂