Well to sit & blog. These are going to be rants & raves that've built up (or down) in these last 5 months. Many things happened while I was away. Some to me where I was and some here at home where I wasn't.
I've been around awhile, 58 years, but I've never been treated (mis) like I was this trip to Eclectic. I went down to my good friend of 38 years Janey Smith's (now Birge)to help create her 'Dream Kitchen'. Besides doing all of the work, which saved loads of money not having to call in separate subs for Electrical, plumbing, sheetrock......, I charged less than half of my usual fee. This saved her $15,000. I'm spelling this out so you'll be able to understand the tragedy of the last day there. I do good work. I did some of my best work on this project. On the last day I got up and spent the morning finishing the last few touches. At about 1 PM I finished and spent the next couple of hours packing my tools in my truck. I tied my 26 foot extension ladder on top made sure all was secured and decided to spend a couple of hours in Janey's pool with a glass or two of wine. This would be my last time in a pool and was, for me, a celebration of the end of a difficult task.
Janey joined me in the pool and we talked. I was trying to keep the conversation light, our relationship had deteriorated over the course of the project, and it was a comfortable two hours. Janey decided she'd had enough pool and got out. I was fixing to do the same when she came back out and said " Ric I don't want to piss you off but is that my ladder you have tied to the top of your truck?" I replied " I'm not pissed off I'm insulted. You're accusing me of stealing your ladder. That's my ladder that I've had longer than I've had children. Why would I donate $15,000 worth of labor & profit to you and then steal a FUCKING ladder?" "Well I didn't mean for it to sound like you were stealing" DUH? "If you say it's yours I must be mistaken".
Out of the pool into the truck. There was the weakest "Thanks for the kitchen. It's real nice" and I was gone.
I'm 20 minutes from her house, almost half way to Clanton, when she calls on my cell. "Ric I've looked everywhere for my ladder and it's not here (she never had a ladder how could it be)You have my ladder and i want it back NOW!"
My reply was to hang up because I went into a dead zone and lost the signal. It was a good thing, I don't like using certain words but boy was I ever gonna use everyone that I knew.
When I got to Verbena I came back in range of a tower and there was a voice mail for me " Ric I'm sorry that is your ladder, can you forgive me? I hate for this to end this way". She apparently called her new husband and he told her she didn't own a ladder.
Well I should forgive her. It's the Christian thing to do but there were so many other slights in the 5 months I was there that I'll not go into that are making forgiveness real hard. I didn't reply and haven't called her. Then again she felt so bad about it she hasn't tried to get in touch with me and feels that a voice mail with a weak apology is all that's required.
Well like a preacher told me once "No good deed goes unpunished".
