Someday this will be a best seller. My wife arrived with the camper at the new property we just bought. For the last two months she had her own idea of what she wanted done on the place, starting with the cargo containers she wanted and where she wanted them for her own designs, which as I mentioned in an earlier blog was neither realistic nor legal since it would require a special permit to do what she wanted.
The first thing she noticed was me getting out of my car to push the gate open all the way. The gusty winds that day had blown it mostly closed. That was when her mother, Lillie, who come up here with her noticed that most of the barb wire fencing had fallen in front part of the property that she pointed out to me later.
I kept an open mind, but her mind was made up; Stephanie wanted nothing to do with this. She saw firsthand that she did not like where I placed the fifth wheel trailer, how it looked and the fact it was not even set up yet. The garage was locked where my son in law’s shop was, and she wanted to look inside.
I had warned her that I did not possess the keys to the shop, nor for that matter the other parts of the house. I did have the house key, but that was it. Unlike her I respected his privacy and considered it off limits.
She then saw the one container that had come. We had gone to the business I bought the two containers from, she was steaming mad I bought twenty feet used, when she wanted forty footers instead. She gone there to cancel the one order of the remaining container going there and procur a forty-foot used container. She cancelled that order too when she stated how rusted they were. Needless to say, she did not like that container either citing the same rust issue. I will not bore you my loyal readers with the rest of this sad tale. Suffice to say we were heading toward a breakdown of epic proportions.
The next day I took Stephanie and Lillie back to Gooding, Idaho, arriving close to midnight. I spend the next day walking on eggshells waiting for someone to tell me what an idiot I am for allowing this mess to occur. But nothing of a sort occurred. I read over my latest proof of my manuscript, just to get a feel of the pacing, ignoring the glaring punctuation and spelling errors for now.
I then watched my wife pack for the return trip back. She already informed her son he would have to stay behind with the birds but promised they were going to get their own place instead of the house I bought…
I feel like an invalid, as she tells him how his sister is being so cruel and unsporting, and I am allowing this to occur. It is not that I do not want to tell everyone that this is not the case, yet she has it in her mind that her words ring true. I allow her side of the story only because whatever I say will fall on mute ears because her brother only believes what Stephanie told him.
I learned long ago that there are two sides to a story, even more than two. I also know it is pointless to argue facts to someone unwilling to listen when her mind is already made up. Which was where I was at and left it at that.
I spent the evening talking to Lillie and allowing her to remembrance about the same stories she shared with me last year when I lived here. We talked though half of what I told her fell on ears that do not hear so well.
I left the next morning bidding everyone farewell and kissing Steph goodbye. I drove home to my new house conflicted over everything that happened over the past 48 hours. I listened to Lynyrd Skynyrd and tried to justify my feelings and knowing what the right thing to do was.
It was not until Tuesday morning that I got the answer.
Jerry Schellhammer 