I drove up to the open dust lot before the sun rose, dust already filled the air and the lot was a commotion. The sound of concrete trucks and men shoveling around gravel cut through the air. Middle aged men with shovels moved in a rhythm making sure to spread the concrete evenly within the wooden frame work. The men worked around the previously laid steel running in a grid pattern throughout the pour. One man stood separately from the rest shouting out to the concrete truck drivers directing them around like a train conductor. We were pouring the foundation for our forever home.
The way that this crew worked together in such unison was a sight to see. One man used a hose to get the concrete mixture closer to its final destination, another used a shovel and placed the concrete in its permeate spot while a third was off separately finishing the concrete with a trowel in order to give it a smooth surface. The work that these men put in was all going into a slab of concrete, the foundation of our future home. We have all heard the old saying “It takes a village to raise a child” and I was able to see the connection between construction and life itself as the project went on. Weather that’s a front-end trade that just becomes part of who you are or if that’s an end or “finish” trade that is what is seen by other people in your life and give a first impression of who you are.

These men can be compared to the parents that raised me. Putting in the work early to
teach me language and manners so that I am able to function now. They were the formative foundation of everything else I have learned and experienced in my life sense. My parents were a huge part of my childhood. They encouraged me to pursue sports and were always there watching over my shoulder to instill good morals inside of me. My dad would always talk to me for hours and explain to me what I did wrong after I got in trouble. He also spanked me a few times in order to really drive home the point of right vs wrong. My mom was more of a nurturing soul that could never hurt a fly. She was the best listener and instilled values of God and faith into me. My parents worked together in perfect unison in order to raise me and my brother to the best of their abilities and giving us an amazing foundation to start our lives with.

As the house project went on there were more stages that can be compared to life.
Childhood friends and teachers were my first exposure to what the outside world was like. The next trades in the construction process like framing, plumbing, and electrical represent that same exposure to others. Framing is a trade that is most similar to my teachers. It is the more technical side and everything else after is attached to and built off of it. One of my first teacher’s names was Mrs. Shelton. I had her 3 years straight because she was one of the few teachers that had a mixed grade class. She taught me skills like math, reading and writing. These are the skills that I can then build off of as I age. I’ll get into more complex math classes and I will learn to write in proper MLA formatting for my college essays as time goes on.

Electrical is one of the few trades that has an affect the finished look of the home. Unlike the framing, which is eventually gets covered by drywall, electrical still peeks out at the end at every light switch or electrical outlet. These are like the first friends in life. The ones who I spent those formulative years with and the ones that hurt to move away from. I had a childhood best friend named Preston who also happened to be my next-door neighbor and go to the same school with me. Me and him were inseparable, we used to go to the green belt and ride our bikes down the hills or run through his house and play with nerf guns. The feeling of being out of breath and
trying your best to control it while hiding around a corner waiting for the perfect moment to strike is one that I will never forget. I remember his tan hard wood floors and the overwhelming smell of the pizza his mom always made us mixing with the nostalgic music from Minecraft in the background.

Plumbing is another one of the formulative trades and it is also visible in the end. A
bathroom is one of the most used rooms in the entire house and a large part of how the house ends up. Bathrooms have exposed plumbing as well, showers and sinks are the decorative part that everyone sees and they have a huge impact on the final look and feel of the house. The bathroom and the plumbing involved is equal to your significant other. Your significant other has a huge role in who you are as a person and how you’re perceived by others. If you have ever gone to a house that has a dirty bathroom or they went cheap with their finishes it just changes the feel of the house. I dated a girl for three and a half years and the last year and a half of the relationship was toxic. She required all of my free time to be dedicated to her and she got upset if I spent time with my family. She was the cheap finishes that I had decided to use and it was reflecting badly on me. Both my parents saw it and so did my closest friends. My parents had to encourage me to break up with her or to “upgrade my finishes” in order to represent myself and my “house” better to the world.

The last thing that I am going to compare is the paint and the tile and all of the back-end trades that can be compared to your constant drive to get better. Paint and the tile of the floor or back splash are the first thing that most home owners change. This drive to get better are things like making sure I have good friends in my life, striving to be healthy, and making sure to keep the relationships with my family strong. An example of the drive to get better and always improve my life could be the gym. I go to the gym at least six times a week and try to play basketball with my friends at least once just to be healthy and get out. It’s good too because I have seen a lot of improvements in my life just from that. I’m not as self-conscious to take off
my shirt in public and I just have more confidence in general from this simple change in my life.

The little “home improvements” have made all the difference in my life. To bring this all back together, the process of building a home is reflective of life its self.
The foundation all the way up to the end trades can be related to an aspect of life as you go on. You can’t live a good life without first creating a good concrete slab to live off of. You need good frame work in order to have a spot for the rest of the finishes and appliances to all be attached to. Without a good frame it’s impossible to build up any further. After having a good base, you can fill your walls with the key parts of the house. The electrical which represents your close friends and your childhood friends. Those are the people who influence you the most and bleed into who you are as a person. The last and final aspect is the end trades or the paint and tile of the house. The end trades are representative of your self-improvement and the drive to be the
best version of yourself. All of these things have an impact on who you are as a person and why you are the way you are. A house is like life itself.