EXTREME MAKEOVER HOME EDITION - Occupational hazards

This week the mighty Extreme Makeover machine rolled into Alabama to help community activists Stephen and Lydia Gaudet and their six sons trade up from their tiny, disaster-ravaged house into something a little more appropriate for such a big family.

The Gaudets are not just numerous, they’re big-hearted as well as physically big. I don’t know how those boys, ranging from 9 to 22, fit into that house. When Ty and the EM:HE crew show up in their front yard for the customary “Bullhorn Howdy” as I like to call it, the Gaudet boys literally burst from their cramped, run-down house and charge the team, overcome with excitement.

I’m starting to think that there are some inherent risks to being part of the EM:HE crew, aside from getting bonked by the occasional panel of drywall. Sometime people – particularly males – get so excited that they have to express their joy with acts of affectionate violence. Remember last week, when the biker pastor hoisted Ty into the air and spun him around? That was nothing. The Gaudet boys deal out rib-cracking bear hugs to everyone on the show, and when they charge the crew like a pack of rampaging silverback gorillas, tackling Ty and designer John Littlefield.

While all the other designers wisely step out of the way, Littlefield gets love-tackled – hard. The force of the blow sends him off the lawn and on to the street, where he lands head first on the concrete under several hundred pounds of happy Gaudet boy. I winced when I saw that. Seriously, I thought we would next see John in a neck brace with two black eyes. But EM:HE doesn’t hire wimpy designers.  John dusted himself off, took some ibuprofen, and got to work.

While the family was in Disneyland, Gaudet Home 1.0 was demolished and replaced by the spacious, stylish version 2.0. This was a really cool house, with a huge kitchen and living room, a giant TV room that could seat the whole family comfortably, and an assortment of cool theme bedrooms. The youngest son, 9-year old Peter, has Down syndrome, so Ty built him a colorful, cheery room packed with appropriate sensory doo-dads to keep him engaged and stimulated.

Ty and company did a great job on this one, and the new house was much appreciated by the Gaudets. I tried to keep score of the number of crushing hugs in this episode but gave up after 25. Suffice to say, the new home went over very well, and the EM:HE crew lived to build another day.

--Dave Campbell

Comments

[Bryce and Cindy Larkin]

This family touched our hearts. We would love to offer the boys a career in our financial company. And of course we personally will train them. Please have them give us a call.

Sincerely, Bryce and Cindy Larkin
435-862-1567
Las Vegas, NV. 89138