In addition to everything else that is going on, my husband and I are two years into a major building project. In the beginning we set out with our rose-colored glasses to build the first and finest all-green, sustainable healing center/home for us the world has seen. Our vision was--and I guess still is!--to be both educational and relaxing, to help show people you can leave a small footprint on the planet AND live comfortably and luxuriously.
To get started we had to choose an architect and we had NO idea what we were getting into. We searched the Internet and found a few choice people that we liked and then sat on our hands for three, four months. Finally, Rick said "I know who I like, YOU choose who you like." So, I sat on my hands for another month or so and finally made a decision. Here was my dilemma--there was an architect I liked a lot, Peter, but he wasn't the "top" guy with his name splashed all over the place in the green building world. I knew Rick liked the top man, and even though I thought topman was too expensive and too flashy, I was afraid to follow my INTUITION and go with Pete. I figured Rick was right, I was wrong. And, the whole world seemed to be at the feet of topman, so who was I to go with Pete? Ignore that small voice inside...the rest of the world loves topman. So, there you go. Topman it is.
Our first meeting with topman was great! He came to our site, asked us questions, wanted to know what we were looking for. Rick answered "to bring the outside in" and I said I wanted something "whimsical." For some reason, it just struck me that it is important that the place I call home be a bit whimsical. I can't explain why, it just is. No problem, we'll be done by next year. Two years and $14,000 later we haven't even seen any definite plans! Our project manager quit and wouldn't say why, leaving us with sneaky suspicions about topman's office, and when we call topman he has this sort of bored, indignant tone in his voice like, "Why the heck are you calling me, I am busy!" and I feel like apologizing for wasting his time even though he is more than ONE YEAR late on our drawings!
Finally, Rick and I have come full circle and regrouped. We realize that it is time to cut topman loose and figure out a better fit for us, hopefully get some of our money back and move on, get going with the rest of our plan. Poking around on the Internet the other day, we found a few cool architects. And then, all of the sudden, there was Pete. The man I knew was our man two years ago. The guy who came to visit our building site without being asked--while on a family vacation even!--and never even charged us for it. We looked at his stuff, it was very cool. We learned that not only is he an achitect but he also operates a contracting/building company, something our present architect seems to know frustratingly little about. And then, there it was...Pete's mission statement. To create "spirited, green architecture with a sense of playfulness...and whimsical design."
Why is it that the little voice inside ourselves is the most honest, most RIGHT voice in the world, yet it is always the LAST one we listen to?
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