Remember back a few months ago when I wrote about my three words? One of this year’s three words was aspire, and I wrote about how I wanted to have a new work space. A later post talked about the same topic with the word hope. More recently I elaborated with build.

This week the word is YES! As in, yes! It’s finally happening! Now that the ball is rolling, I feel like I can elaborate a bit and explain what we are doing.

When we bought our house about 12 years ago, it was the perfect size. We were expecting our first child and there was room enough for all of our stuff and a baby and a small home business. Fast forward about ten years, and the same house (with two kids and THEIR stuff and a BIGGER business) suddenly felt very small. We considered moving, or adding on, but the simplest (!!) solution seemed to be a garage renovation. My dad (a structural engineer) drew up a set of plans for us to use as a starting place to talk with builders. Then I tried to find a builder who was interested.

It turns out that this project wasn’t as “simple” as we imagined. To offer the greatest flexibility, we wanted running water and a small bathroom, as well as heat—all on the second floor above an unheated garage. The first builders I approached (more than two years ago) told me it wasn’t possible. It would be too expensive to raise the roof, it couldn’t be done to code, it would be cheaper to tear down the whole garage and start over again. Basically, they said, “No.” I figured it was impossible and put the thought away.

Then in January I was picking a list of words and the word “aspire” struck me. When I chose it for the year, I wrote, “I’m going to consider ideas and plans that might be too complicated or impractical (a larger work space, perhaps?), and allow myself to long for things that might be just out of my reach.” When I heard about another builder who had experience with renovations, I decided to give it one more shot. And this time, the builder said, “Yes.”

It’s been a long process to put together plans that would really work and find solutions to all of the little issues that our project has, but today the builders came and started demolition to prepare for the new construction. The roof of the old garage is gone, and all I can say is, YES! In just under three months, we should have a new space that can be used for my home office (short term) and a family room for as long as we live here.

“The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.” ~ Joseph Campbell

(Or are you are going to let someone else’s no prevent it?)

What are you saying yes to this week? Are other people saying yes, too? Please share your thoughts and comments!