Lessons On Being Gutted
“We gutted it today — watch out for that nail in the floor unless you want to spend the night in the ER getting a tetanus booster!” Our remodeling crew kind of smirked while delivering this update as we crept upstairs to see the progress on our bathroom project.
They had gutted it, alright.
Good riddance, I thought, happy to be rid of the old tiles with stained mortar and the hideous frogs-and-butterflies wallpaper. Even the vanity with the crooked and never-closing doors was in the front yard. Things were moving forward.
It wasn’t until I stood in the doorway of our stripped bathroom that I realized how apt this metaphor was. I’ve felt just like this poor bathroom before. Maybe you have too.
Gutted means cleaned and disemboweled or extremely disappointed and unhappy. I picture a very unhappy fish missing its insides.
But, I’d like to expand on that definition a bit here. I think we can learn more from it.
First, gutted means vulnerable. Our bathroom had been disemboweled, its innards ripped out. The two-by-fours were showing, wires were sticking out into the room, and the whole room looked naked. No more secrets could hide there.
