A LESSON IN HUMILITY

~ A Day in the Life of an almost Criminal ~

Sometimes the daily grind gets to me. And it especially did that day 15 years ago.

The kids were in school and Don was at work. I stood and looked around me and, yes, the house was a real mess. But, it didn’t bother me. At least not this time. The excitement of getting into our new home compelled me to indifferences of my own character. I became irrationally anxious and terribly eager for change (and you will soon see why). I was never more excited as I was with this one. As I moved about that morning, the dusty ceiling fan that we had had for years rattled above, grinding with every turn. The background noise of the radio was just another morning Welcome to our very busy day. It marred any thoughts to the new and exciting. Rather it restrained me to open-air politics and society’s ploy to destroy anything good in our world. Forget that. I had better things to concentrate on. There was so much I wanted to do. I was antsy. So, I began to think.

That “thinking” drove me underground.

I picked up the phone that day and called who I knew would love to do a special job with me. She had been a friend for a long time. We shared the love of our boys playing soccer for many years and then, of course, our love for renovating and decorating houses. In my mind, there was so much work to be done on the new house. So, vacant house + take down wallpaper = getting a jump start!  A win-win. So, I called Anna and she graciously agreed to breaking into our “new” house.

Now, to get inside. How hard could that be? Can we do that and not break the law? We (air-quotes) TECHNICALLY bought the house, right? What harm could that possibly do?

We got in the car and drove the short distance up the road to our new home. The driveway was a rather long one. The farmhouse sat far back off the country road on a little more than 3 acres. It was gorgeous. It was peaceful looking. Anna and I walked around to the back of the house trying to find an “open” through one of the older paint-peeled windows. And there were a few of them. I recalled a couple of the basement windows that were covered by old plywood so I knew that would be a good start. And it was.

In my mind, I knew it wasn’t right. But knowing it was vacant and it would soon be ours, I saw no harm. So Thelma and Louise expedited their mission.

With grubs on and paint stripper in hand, we were in the kitchen and down and dirty in no time. Anna was stripping the floral wallpaper and I managed to crawl on top of the countertop stripping the wallpaper above the cupboards that I knew had been there long since I was born. What a loaded mess we were.

Our new farmhouse longed for some much needed love and attention. The dead flies filled up about a 1/3 of the windows, brown panelling on most of the walls and the floors…well, they just needed replacing. I’m guessing the floors had been there since the 50’s as well. But OH the VISION! While taking a two-week break from my day job, I was excited to work on this new project that had a tremendous amount of potential. My head was filled with so many ideas.

With the radio blaring, we worked away, chatting some, giggling a lot and trying to keep cool through the heat that filled every space in the house. Then, the unthinkable happened.

A car turned in and was slowly driving up the long narrow driveway. The silence condemned the bliss.

Uh, oh.

We both froze.

What do we do? Hide? What good would that do – our car is in the driveway. Who would it possibly be? It’s not the police. We can’t possibly run or even leave in our get-away car; there’s only one way out!! The blood from my body ran rightfully cold. My heart beating a little faster. Could it possibly be ….the OWNER?!?  

Abort mission. Abort mission. ABORT MISSION!!

I watched as he got out of his car and walked slowly up the stairs scanning every inch of the front of the house. If I’m not mistaken my heart was beating OUT of my body. He UNLOCKED THE FRONT DOOR, and came in.

Yep, it’s him.

We both froze. Stripper tool still in hand; my do-rag lost its ferver. Shoulda wore my disposable diaper. I hadn’t a clue what Anna looked like. Probably death. My head and body stiffened but my eyeballs rolled around for the sighting of the one thing I hoped to have never laid eyes on. Ever. Then, there he was.

“Uh excuse me, who are you?” the attractive man said.

“Uh…umm my name is Pam and my husband and I have purchased this house. This is Anna”.

“What are you doing here?” he said firmly.

Please. Why why why SO MANY questions? Just give it to me straight and have me arrested for trespassing.

“Well, (kind sir). I thought I would get a head start on cleaning some of this stuff up. There’s a lot of it, you know. The house was empty and I saw no harm in coming in. Are you okay with this?”

He proceeded to tell me how unlawful it was to be inside and how bad of an idea it was. He condemned our presence and asked us to leave and that he would get a hold of his lawyer. I felt TERRIBLE. I felt SHAMEFUL. How could I have done this? Especially to Anna. Some friend I was.

After I dropped Anna off, I drove home feeling like a 10 year old that had been scolded. But now the worst part of my day? Breaking the news to the one person I feared more than the owner: Don.

That day as I sat in the corner of my mind, I learned a lot. One, come clean. I called our lawyer and told him everything so he was not blindsided by my utter lack of pure PATIENCE. Two, I grumbled at the very thought, “I am my mother all over again!”.

I am happy to report nothing came of it. No charges and no incarceration this time. Just a lesson in humility and all things adulthood. We moved into our new home the first of July and on to do the many things I could have already done. But, I am thankful. Thankful I didn’t have to face my family behind bars and thankful for the wretched new house we were blessed with.

 

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Have you ever done something you’re not proud of? Sometimes “in the moment” it may seem harmless but in retrospect, it’s clear you weren’t thinking right. What have you learned?