Hey all wish I could be in TX with you. Mr. Studebaker, how wonderful it is that you are there? If in the next couple of paragraphs if I say something that I said before please forgive me. Over the last couple of weeks, I have been asked more than once to share what this journey has been like and what it means that it’s coming to a end. So those that were in Knoxville, sorry.
Over the last 9 years, we have traveled the country building homes for families that have for the most part, really needed them. And without me even knowing it, my own home was being built. There was a coalition of builders that made it happen. Not 3 or 7 or even 21 like we had in Joplin, but thousands. Many of you that are there in Tx. They say that home is where you are standing! I say home can be where ever I can reach. Where ever not just me, but those that have shared the same experience as me can reach. When I think of moments that have defined my last 9 yrs. there has always been one of you there to share it with me. When I shut my eyes and go to Camp Barnabas or to the field of dreams in Minot N.D. or that day in Detroit that the Vardens got out of the limo and there was silence. Thousands of people there with there hands held in a circle over their heads (that’s a standing ovation for people who are deaf) they say that we won a award for that moment in Detroit. I say now that that was the footings of my own home being build. Our home!!!
Today when you gather to “bring it in” you will standing in my “great room.” Its the greatest great room that has ever been built.Take a moment and look around. Of all the great rooms that our wonderful builders have built over the last 9 years none are as great as the one you all built for me. I thank all of you for that. I know that I have said this before but I must thank Darrel, Rex, James, Colin, Everette, Justin,Matt, Eric Cochran, jeff kerr, Scott Farquharson, Trace,Dave Landry, Bob Berg, Eric Hamilton anyone who has ever hoisted a camera on their shoulders and have followed me into attics, cellars, sewers, and have allowed me to share my deepest and most cherished thoughts and never ever judge me for it. You all know so much about me and I know so little about you. I am sorry for that. But there is still time.
Lets not make this the best thing we will ever do. Promise me, that this, this life, this home that we have built together will just be the beginning. Lets take this foundation that we have built together and continue to grow, continue to share, continue to help. If we do not we have failed. To not take what we have learned and grow from it is a waste.There is no foundation like the one we have built together. I am so excited to take what I have learned, what you all have taught me and build a new floor, a new a room, a new dream.
Jack Cannon 1st AD and then director of emhe said a wonderful thing to me last week. Jack left the show a few years ago and has gone on to direct a number of projects, so, as for all of us, as time moves on this emhe credit will move farther down the resume. Anyway as Jack was in the meeting, the EP looking down at Jacks resume raises his head and says “you worked on EMHE, wow I love that show, how cool that must of been”. It was the only comment that the EP made to Jack about what was on his resume. He did also saids that Paulie was his favorite and wondered if Michael lived on the sun . wink wink . No he didn’t say that. Anyhow Jack got the job.
So I shut my eyes again and see Veronica, Vanessa,Tami, Meghann, Heather and the rest with tired eyes and broken nails, I see transpo using their GPS to get to crafty, I see big John and his team making me feel safe,I still can’t believe that Steve-o was security, I see Dennis Harris and Ben looking at the woman with her flash on and thinking “am i speaking another language,” I see our camera and sound crew thinking that “this will never make air” and Nadim saying “Brady… Brady this will never make air”.I see Max and Brielle saying post needs more options, I see Denise Cramsey saying fuck post!!! I see Colin. I just see Colin. Eat something more than a apple. 147 lbs… thats just wrong. I see the star wagon thanking god that they have Pizza traded out for the 8th time this week. I see boxes of pizzas that are stacked so high I can’t tell if I am eating pizza or the cardboard it came in. I see my beloved art tent smoke their last Cigarettes. I see Ed Sanders waving a white towel saying “HEY HEY HEY.” X when you laugh I can’t help but smile. Thank you Alvin for opening my eyes to a poetry i was blind to. I see our wonderful AP’s running to and fro. I see my location dept. with the prettiest girls in the neighborhood. Not you Zoe. You are the prettiest girl in the neighborhood. I see our wonderful PM’s thanking our builders and mending the road between builder and production. Tony, you are the best. Geoffers I have seen you since the pilot, how many more cans do we need to put into the ceiling? Why do we cover the windows??? What is that big truck for? Nothing comes off it but a keno. I never figured that one out. I see Dave Boller. When I see Dave Bohler, I know that everything is alright. I want to be like Dave when I grow up. I am forgetting so many people… oh, i see Brenton crying and Anne jumping up and down, to get the crowd into it long after Dennis has asked them to settle down. Please know that when I was yelling at you, I was really yelling at Wexler. And it is, and always will be Wexler.
The one thing I never liked was the fact that there were 2 teams. Alpha and Bravo. It was always one big happy family to me. That’s the way I will remember it. One big happy family. Have a wonderful reveal and feel free to leave the front door to the home you built me open.
I love you all, Paulie
Paul DiMeo while best known as the carpenter with attitude on ABC Television’s two-time Emmy winning Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, is also an established actor, a man’s man and the first to cry on his hit show. 