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ColumnRecently, Barry, a good friend of mine was quite down, even though he was going to retire. He was done with his flourishing contractor practice and ready to enjoy the life of a pensionado. A change much needed and longed for. The hard work had worn him out and he was worrying about his health and physical condition.
For project developers, he used to be the man they could count on. ‘Build a house as if it is your own’, he always said. ‘Construct it like you are laying the foundations for your own life.’Barry was the first to put this motto into daily practice. Until the last few months. A developer with whom he had worked for decades, persuaded him to tackle one last project. And to make matters worse, this project was on a spot he was secretly in love with.
The assignment was to construct a model home as a lure for further plans. Money didn’t matter. It was a wonderful last job he couldn’t resist. But Barry just seem to lack the spirit to excel once more and he desperately looked forward to the moment he was done. The result did not truly meet his criteria, but hey, it was finished.
At least that’s what he thought…
During Barry’s farewell reception, the developer came up to him and congratulated him with his last project. He revealed that he knew it was one of Barry’s favorite locations. And at the end of his speech he pulled out a key and handed it over to my friend. ‘Thank you for all you’ve done’, the developer said, ‘the house is yours’. Barry could do nothing but blanch.
A week after, I met him again. He told me, he was still thunderstruck that the one time he had violated his own motto, he had actually been building his own house. After a mournful sigh, he looked at me with his bright piercing eyes. ‘And you?’, he suddenly asked. ‘What kind of house are you building for the rest of your life?’