Personally this next step has been one of the toughest.  Tough mentally as well as emotionally.  Some people automatically trust others until proven differently, while others are only willing to extend that gift once it has been duly earned. While I strive for the former, unfortunately the latter is more of my nature.  Regardless, it’s been extremely tough to move forward and hire another GC, even though it’s imperative if we’re going to achieve our original goal. 

There’s probably very few people who have never been the recipient of some sort of betrayal…at least once in their life.  And while I was taught early that “you’re only as good as your word”, I’m often reminded of how differently some have been raised.  Our original GC we initially “loved” and trusted, he was the one who would ultimately deliver our dream.  We did our due diligence and trust was rightfully given, however that trust was shortly shattered and as a result our dream was almost abandoned.  Trust is the basis of any healthy relationship, business or personal, and for me it can at times be challenging to readily “re-extend” that gift after it’s been recently, and in my opinion, abused – especially when it’s been so costly mentally, emotionally and financially. 

I’ve been told that how you respond to life’s challenges is what defines you. Not really sure how I or we’ll end up being “defined” – but I am somewhat curious.  I do know that while it could be so easy to waste needed energy getting bogged down in our past experiences it would ultimately only prohibit us from moving forward. To begin our next step of moving forward we’ve met some incredible GC’s, ones that are undeniably competent enough to finish our project.   In the end our criteria for choosing a new GC went beyond experience and we decided to leave the final decision to our gut/heart. 

So this past Monday we began our next phase/step, the crew from our new GC showed up an hour early and progress has resumed!!!  While it’s disheartening that some of the sacrifices which will now be required will affect/alter our desired finishes, appliances and basically the green features of our home, it is beyond exciting to see progress once again being made.  The vast majority of this week will be literally cleaning up the mess left behind by our former GC and if possible they might start demo’ing the interior of our house.  While it’s scary stepping back out on this “limb”, it’s comforting to see the organization of our GC and even more that there’s someone on site with a real understanding of the project and actually supervising the work. 

As for our past experiences, I truly believe in Karma and have no doubt that those with poor intentions will more than receive what they have once dealt.

But the one thing I’ve learned over this past year which is more valuable than anything else is that we’ll be okay…we can make it through whatever lies ahead as long as we stay focused on what’s most important.