Crossing the line

Every now and then life stinks. Take this couple I know. A few years ago they moved across country to help out a family member in need. Today that family member, with his nasty girlfriend in tow, is suing the couple for no other reason than to be awful, disgusting human beings. When I heard the story, and I mean no disrespect to those in my family who practice law, but I realized lawyers are just paid to lie. The law has nothing to do with truth whatsoever. When you think about it, the truth is very easy to tell. Long stories, usually, mean big lies. I feel sorry for our friends as they swim through shark infested waters, so I decided to surprise them with a room makeover. While I sent them off to the movies for an afternoon, I got to work re-arranging their living room (Ms. Manners would interject here and say I was rude for suggesting they redo a room, but they asked ME if I would work on the mess in their large, overcrowded living room). As I arranged new sitting areas and created restful spots for them to escape the noise of the day, I kept thinking about what they gave up, what sacrifices they made for this apparently ungrateful family member (they no longer consider this person family and think the toxic girlfriend has been stirring the pot more than anyone). They described their home as "sad and depressing" because it represented everything they HOPED it could be and the disaster it has turned into. And it made me think, while listening to their story I thought about crossing the line and telling them what I really thought about this jerk and his (clearly loser) girlfriend, but instead I gave them what I could...a home they'd enjoy coming back to, hanging out in and a necessary calm in the midst of an awful storm. One take-away from the many things I did was to create a picture wall of gorgeous art they've collected through the years to remind them of better places and times. I have several ways of creating the perfect straight line. One I've used before, where I place two nails a certain distance apart, make sure they are level, tie a string between them and mark where the nails will go in a series. Here, because time was not in my favor, I hung a piece of blue painters tape on the wall and marked it with a level to make sure I was right in line. Took a few minutes to leave a lasting impression.
TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: Five minutes
COST: Free
STRESS LEVEL: Watching the smile on my friends faces grow when they walked into their home: LOW