Tyvek

One afternoon I closed the cafe early and paid my brother, Lauren and Mel to come out to the hill. Their job? To attach to tyvek to the outside of the house and stuff insulation into the frames inside. Dad was there too. The five of us cut and hammered the tyvek until we'd enclosed the whole house, making it weatherproof. Between that and the insulation the house felt warm and protected and private.

For the first time, too, the windows and doors were the only portals to the outside. The view was framed, access limited. It was one of those perception-shifting moments.