Always Room for Improvement

Moving again?  I had just gotten the last box unpacked. I had taken Precious back to Indiana a few weeks ago and Thanksgiving was approaching.  We were headed to see my parents for a few days and then a week in Jamaica. We had been to Jamaica before and stayed in Ocho Rios, but this time we were headed to Montego Bay.

I finished painting the room and sat in the middle of the floor.  Moving again. I just couldn't believe it. I loved this house and I wasn't sure about moving down south.  I'd always lived in the Midwest.  I liked the Midwest. On the up side, we'd be twelve hours away from Min.  We'd be eight hours from my parents in the winter time, but fourteen in the summer time.  Maybe we'd finally get to start this marriage without interruption from Min.

My parents have  never provided "advice" on any subject unless asked and I don't ask.  My Mother made it clear at seventeen that I was on my own and I was doing pretty good without asking her for help.  On the other hand, as you see, Min was more active in my marriage than we were.

Chappy relocated immediately.  He started working in Atlanta in November.  We'd only been in this house three months.  There I was again, in a different house, different state and Chappy a thousand miles away. He was a Vice President now of National Sales.  He was thirty five years old and the youngest Vice President in the company's history.

Our Room in Jamica

He would fly home on weekends.  Friday nights he'd fly in to O'Hara and Sunday night, he'd fly back out.  Thanksgiving arrived and we were flying to Florida.  We spent three days at my parents, drove to Fort Myers Beach, spent  four days and then flew to Montego Bay. It was the best vacation we had ever taken.

We stayed at a Sandals Resort.  They warned us that the airport was not far and you could almost reach up and touch the belly of the bird when it flew over.  The first time it took off, it startled you, it was so loud and so low.  It reminded me of the time that Killer and I were on Cayman Brac and the police would not let us cross the road as the DC-10 was attempting to leave the island. It needed every inch of that landing strip to get clearance to fly. But after that first day, you hardly noticed the jets coming and going.

Captain Paul of the Booze Cruise

We had a room right on the beach.  We had fun, like married couples should without interruption from mothers.  He didn't call his mom once, the whole trip!  We took a booze cruise to Margaritaville and had a drink as we watched the sun set. We jumped on a huge slide that dropped you into the ocean and crawled back up on the catamaran.  We met another couple, they were on there honeymoon and we spent a day hanging out with them.

Chappy took a scuba diving class so that he could try that and loved it. We went snorkeling one day and took a river raft down the Martha Brae River.  We laid in the sun, we played beach volley ball and we swam in the ocean. We reconnected. But after the week, we went our separate ways again. I headed to Illinois and  he to Atlanta. One of the most memorable times we ever had, we were just the two of us, alone on an island with no interruptions.

Leaving on the booze cruise

I flew down to Atlanta in December.  It was my job to find a house.  Chappy never wanted to be a part of that.  I would go out and find a couple houses that I liked and then he'd look at them.  If he liked one, we'd buy it, if not, I continued to look.

I didn't know Atlanta, just like I didn't know Indianapolis or Chicago, but I figured out where we wanted to look and I looked. I was so disappointed.  I had this dream house in Naperville and nothing compared to it.

One day I headed up Toll Road 400, most of the northern suburbs of Atlanta are up off that toll road.  I started looking in Alpharetta. I loved the area.  It  had been developing, but nothing like it is today.  There was a mall and every imaginable store within five miles.  I always looked for where the important stuff was, like shopping.  Where was the grocery store, gas, theaters, restaurants and places of interest.  It wasn't far from Chappy's office either.

Heading out to dinner

I came upon a new subdivision called Water's Cove.  One would think there would be water  near by, but there wasn't.  Everything in that area is named after a peach or in that particular area, water.  Most streets are named after bridges.  Not actual bridges, but there was Jones Bridge Road, Kimball Bridge Road, Haynes Bridge Road and if it wasn't a bridge, you were dealing with peaches.  Over 65 streets in Atlanta have Peachtree in their name.

I liked the community. It was small, maybe thirty five to forty homes with a community pool.  The houses were all new, but most were occupied. There were only six lots left to be built upon.  I went through a model home and liked the lay out but that particular home was sold.  I looked at another and although I didn't sense that feeling I had with the other homes, I was tired of looking for houses and this one was nice.

I told Chappy about it and we drove up after work. He was living in Atlanta in an executives apartment not far from the office.  It was a one bedroom apartment on the second floor. Not very "executive" but the company had apartments in this complex for those who were in town on extended business.

He liked it so we sat down and looked at plans.  Scoped out the remaining lots to see which one we would like the best and altered the blue prints to our liking. There were a few things that we wanted to change, but the builder was not the most cooperative. He had been in this area for a while and had seven more homes to build and he wanted to get out.  Customizing the  houses at this point was not on his list of to do's.  He did a lot when he first started selling them in the subdivision, but he wasn't so willing now.  Until he met Cindy.

One part of the house would allow the basement to be a walkout.  I wanted to put a single garage door in the back as we'd use part of the basement as a work shop and storage for yard tools. He had never heard of such a thing.  But, he worked it in.  I wanted the utility sink in the laundry room, just off the kitchen to be built in a cupboard with a laminate surround.  And Lord, I wanted ceramic tile instead of vinyl in the laundry room!   The laundry room was large enough to hold a washer, dryer and utility sink, it wasn't like I was asking him to tile an entire floor.

He told me that he owned a home that was worth over three quarter million dollars and he didn't have ceramic on his laundry floor.  "I don't live in your house, I'm going to live in this one, but only if you put ceramic in my laundry room."

He thought the cost might deter me. "It'll be $100 more."  Oh my God, I just don't know if I can afford that! The damn house was over $300,000!  What was $100 and in resale, it was worth more than that! 

He told Chappy I drove a hard bargain.  Chappy introduced the construction manager to him.  "You think she drives a hard bargain, wait until you start building and she is watching everything you do. She'll be here every day when we break ground."  And I was.

We signed the papers contingent on selling the home in Naperville.  I returned to Illinois and put the house on the market. It was Christmas time and I didn't expect many bites, but we had an offer within a week.

Chappy left the sale of the house and the negotiations up to me. The couple wanted the house but were not sure if they could finance it.  I required $5000 on earnest money or keep the house on the market until they could get financing.  They wanted the house so they put $5000 down in earnest.  We were asking the same price we had bought the house three months earlier.

Their time expired and they requested an extension again. I needed to sell this house so we could break ground on the other and I didn't want to keep extending time to only discover they were  unable to finance it and it had been off the market for more than a month.  I gave then two weeks and if in two weeks they could not get the financing, the earnest money was ours to keep and I'd keep the house off the market until they found out if they were approved.  They didn't get approved and we kept the $5000.  Chappy thought we should pay it back, but I told him this was the deal, we had kept the house off the market and may have lost a sale waiting for them to get approved  That is why you get pre-approved before you  house hunt.

The house sold in January 1999. I moved to Atlanta in February 1999 and started managing the construction of our new home. We were in Naperville five months exactly. We sold the house for $5000 more than we paid for it and had another $5000 from the earnest money.  Not a bad little investment for such a short period of time.

It didn't matter that our lives were upside down again, Min had to come visit and bring all the relatives to show off Chappy's house.  Not to mention there were three casinos within forty five minutes from our house and if there was one thing his family loved was to gamble.

We went home for Christmas just like we did every year and we stayed a week.  Two days after Christmas, every one came to our house and the plan was to stay four days.  Unfortunately Mother Nature visited and the night before they were to leave, we got fifteen inches of snow.  They stayed  not only the four days they were scheduled to stay, but another four days while we were waiting to be plowed out.

It wasn't just Min and John Boy, it was Min, John Boy, Sissy, Uncle Dick, Aunt Chick, Uncle Pete, Aunt Pat and Sissy's boyfriend.  Ten people for eight days.  It was a first, but it wasn't the last time we had such a full house.

I cooked from sun up to sun down. I had a big breakfast every morning waiting for them. They would head off to the casino and return for lunch and a  nap or an afternoon of cards and beer.  I'd make a big dinner and as I cleaned up, they'd be playing cards, drinking beer or heading back to the casino.

When we were snowed in I thought they were all going to have gambling withdraw. What were they going to do? They tried to get out, but got stuck, so I devised a plan, we'd have our own little casino right there.  They loved to play black jack, so I set up the dining room table and we gambled without a license.

John Boy was worried. Who was going to roll the bank.  You can't play black jack without money involved.  Not a problem. Everyone had to throw so much down so we had a bank and we started playing.  It wasn't big money like you might win in the casino, but at least someone walked away with some cash that day and whatever was left in the bank was divided among all who donated.

Everyone had a great time and raved about the hospitality except for Min. She didn't like hearing how everyone loved what I cooked. How beautiful the house was.  How nice the rooms were and the special touches I had bestowed upon them.  She didn't like to hear that they had fun playing cards and hanging out with me.  She didn't like that I didn't put up with her snide remarks without flinging them right back and her siblings laughing at her, because no one was wittier than Min. She wasn't happy.  This same group came to Atlanta and she got her revenge there.

I spent two weeks with his family.  One week in Michigan and one week in Illinois. I deserved a damn metal for not slipping poison in someones beer, but did I get one?  No.  Chappy was happy.  He thanked me after everyone left for treating his family special. He told me how they all commented on what a great time they had and how at home they felt because of how I ran
"my show." They only really knew me from being at Min's.  When his Uncle Dick left, he shook Chappy's hand and said, "That's quite a Cindy you've got there, you chose well."  This was Min's youngest brother that she adored.  She overheard his compliment and had to add  her two cents, "Dickie, there is always room for improvement with that one!"

Have I told you how much I "loved" my mother-in-law?