If My Home is My Castle, My Garage is My Secret Lair

Sometimes the least expected results of a given task may be the most enjoyable.  This is certainly the case with my recent garage sale.

I knew that we would pick up a little extra spending cash.  I also knew that unused “treasures” would be removed from my home, leaving a great deal of space.  I hadn’t considered what I would do with said space.

The answer became resoundingly clear as I rearranged items that were to be kept and stored properly.  Instead of just shoving all of it into recesses, out of sight and out of mind, I took the more useful things and…well, decided to put them to use.

My old component stereo from my college years was hooked up, at first just to determine whether or not it was in working condition.  It was.  And since it was, I decided to leave it hooked up.  In fact, I decided to even bring the unused DVD player out and hook it up to the stereo and old Commodore monitor.

Next, the miniature Pirates of the Caribbean pinball table was plugged in.  Then the ping-pong table was unfolded into a suitable area, the heavy bag was hung from its hook on the ceiling and the dusty recliner was brushed off and dragged into the open floor space.

Add to these new features the fact that I already keep a decent supply of beer in the fridge and I suddenly found myself in possession of an area that I had never planned on assembling.  I was the proud, unsuspecting owner of a man cave.

The temperature is perfect right now as I sit in the giant cozy recliner, The Empire Strikes Back booming over my speakers with an ironically smaller screen displaying its picture.  My sons and their friends buzz around playing ping-pong, pinball and taking turns punching the heavy bag.

“Your garage is like a cool place to hang out all of a sudden,” one of them commented and I couldn’t help but think to myself, “Yes, yes it is.”

All I need is space heater for the winter months and I can already see myself escaping out into my garage.  A constant mix of The Beatles, Springsteen and Kings of Leon will be kept in the 5 disc CD changer while more and more DVDs will find their way out to the shelves.  There will, no doubt, be one hand stuck in the front of my pants and another wrapped around a cold beer as my brain slowly atrophies.

I was even able to shift the numerous woodworking tools that I acquired over the years, asking for them as gifts when there wasn’t a particularly cool Lego set I wanted, into the open so that I might be able to undertake some projects.  I promised my sons a better lemonade stand and could use some shelving in one of the storage rooms inside my home.  Then maybe I could start building some furniture.

All that open space is just begging to be filled up with new crap.