Listen to Your Gut, It speaks the Truth, Your heart will Lie

For Christmas 1989, I had sewn a new dress for Kaitlyn and made arrangements to have our photo taken for Neal.  We spent a Saturday that he worked getting all dolled up for our photo shoot.  She was so excited but knew she had to keep a secret from her daddy.

Christmas Day we presented him with her gift and he just loved them.  We had it framed and he displayed it on his desk in the office. Kaity and I spent a considerable amount of time together as he was always working or bowling.

In March we were headed to Reno for a bowling tournament that he and his team were competing in. As luck would have it, this would have been considered a vacation for me so the weather was not cooperating.

We flew from Detroit to Minneapolis and from there straight to Reno.  Unfortunately, Reno was having a snow storm.  Reno never had snow, but it closed the airport so we were rerouted to San Francisco.  Once we got there, we were shuttled to Reno on a bus.  The bus was full of people trying to get to this bowling tournament.

I had a window seat and swear my life flashed  before my eyes as we took the mountains towards our destination.  You could feel the bus slide and all I  could see from my seat was this mountain edge.  The bus stopped to put chains on the tires to get us through the ice and snow.  He said he had never seen weather conditions like this.  Well, of course not! I had never been to Reno!

Our original flight was to take four hours.  It took us a day to reach our destination.  Our trip did not start out well.  I had packed the car and was going to pick Neal up at the office and drive to Detroit.  When I entered his  office, I noticed the photo of Kaitlyn and I was no longer in the frame. It was an old picture of Kaitlyn.

I grew suspicious. That gut feeling that tells you something is terribly wrong. I asked him what happened to the photo we had given him for Christmas just a couple of months ago.  He said he wanted something different and I knew he was lying. I kept asking him about this picture and he kept avoiding the subject.

We got in the car to leave and the roads were treacherous.  This was before seat belt laws and Neal was a stickler for safety.  He noticed I did not have my seat belt on and asked me to put it on.  I refused.  He was beside himself that I would not put this belt on because the roads were so slippery.  I made a deal, tell me about the picture and I'll put my belt on.  He refused and I didn't budge.  We were not happy campers and the trip had just started.

By the time we made it to Reno, they had lost our luggage.  Everyone in our group did not have luggage as we all had checked ours to make the transfer from planes easier.  We had to go shopping that day to find clothes to wear as we had been living in ours for a day and we were all feeling a little ripe.

The tournament was over.  I had a great time with the team and spouses, but Neal and I were hardly talking to one another.

We got home and things were tense. I continued to ask about the picture and he continued to ignore me.   I came home one day in April. He was home early and it was so unlike him. He was looking at the newspaper and I teased him, "looking for a new place to live?"  It was reminisce of the night in our apartment eleven years ago when I suggested he was getting ready for a date and he was.

"Yes, I am going to move out.  I just don't know when or where yet."

I was not surprised. "I'll help you with the when, it'll be tomorrow.  You might want to start packing tonight as you'll need a place to stay."

He thought I was being rather calloused and uncaring.  I was remarkably calm for the news that he just delivered to me.  " Remember the deal, this is my  house, don't think you are going to get any part of it."  I almost sounded like Killer!  

He wanted nothing to do with the house. It was work and responsibility.  I told  him I would pay him the $1000 he put towards the down payment and he could sign a quit claim deed. History was repeating itself again, only I was asking him to sign the house over to me. We had been in the house just eight months.

My gut had told me to not take a chance.  My heart overruled.  I was starting to learn that I needed to listen to my gut as it never steered me wrong.