Thanks to my dad and Rob the basement is framed!!
At long last and mucho nagging…err i forgot Lindsay reads this must find better words…loving suggestions from Lindsay and a hell of a lot of hard work over the weekend our basement is finally all framed in! You probably can’t tell from the pictures I posted here exactly how much progress we made over the weekend but let me assure you that going from just a open slab of a basement to something you can actually visualize as a real life basement complete with new 60 inch 1,000,000 contrast ratio 1080p TV. 
On Sunday we finished up the bathroom frame in around the tub and since Rob and I actually got confident enough to build our own walls and not screw them up progress was quick. The only problem we kept running into was that every wall Rob and I built was about 1/4 inch to tall or 1/4 inch to short but with a little love tap from the hammer (well I typically bashed it about 1000000 times to get it in place if it was too big) they slide in perfectly. 
Last task for the day was framing in the HVAC ducting which was a pain in the ass to say the least. I think it literally took us 2 hours to do it but when she was done it was pretty damn impressive to step back and actually look at what was accomplished. Like I said I don’t think the pictures do it justice in the least!!
I really owe a ton of thanks to Rob and my dad for all the help. I never expected we would make as much progress as we did and I never could have done it without Rob coming over both days and busting his butt helping us. Of course none of it would have been possible without my dad. A little over a year ago this time I remember driving down to the hospital in Iowa City after his heart attack and coming to the realization that I really might never get to finish the basement with him and that thought for some reason made me more sad than anything in my life. I don’t know why that was what stuck in my head cause it seems rather odd I am sure or what else I was thinking about as Lindsay and I we’re driving down there but its stuck with me for a long time. I thought at the time it was because it was the one thing I had looked forward to more than anything to be able to do with him. Just to spend time building something together with him and admiring the really amazing talents he has to build something out of a pile of wood that a lot of days I think go totally unappreciated. Now looking back on the weekend its answered why it stuck in my head. Its not because Rob and I would have ended up in the ER trying to do it without his help or the fact that it was just nice to get it done finally. It was the fact that by doing the work with him I got to experience what he’s done his whole life…to see what 50 years of honing your skills at a trade does. I got to share in the fun and pride he takes in his job and most importantly just take some time out from the normal everyday business that consumes me to really just spend some time with the one person I really admire most in the world. Some day I REALLY hope my kids appreciate me as much as I do him and all that he’s given up and done for me in my life. Thanks Dad!
