February 6, 2017 Integrity
I’ve thought long and hard the last few weeks about Integrity. I’ve fought through being mad, sad, down right pissed off, even some regret have crept in. I’ve questioned if we’re making the right decision and every other emotion you can think of. Let me explain. We were excited to accept an offer on our house a couple of weeks ago. Not only that, but the couple who is buying our home asked to meet us, and are genuine, wonderful people. Then as usual, the inspections came. Did I mention we have spent about $130,000 on our home, that we will not be getting back? Our sewer distribution box seems to be out of alignment, and needs to be fixed. No big deal, right? Wrong! Our distribution box is located under our beautiful walkway we spent so much money on a couple of years ago. It was our pride and joy. It was a reflection of how we wanted people go feel before entering our home. So, our choice was ripping up the walkway, replacing the distribution box, and putting the walkway back. We were told they new owners would most likely have issues with settling due to our cold weather. And if they ever had issues in the future, they’d have to rip up the walkway again. So? Who cares? It’s cheaper for us to just rip it up and let them worry about it someday. Right? Well no! That’s what so many people would do, but that’s not who we are. That’s not what I’d hope would be done to us. It’s about integrity and honesty and karma. Doing the right thing, no matter what you’re faced with can be super hard. And I can tell you Justin and I get the raw end of the deal so often but we can sleep at night. We lay our heads down knowing we’ve done the right thing. The honest thing. We hope that matters to someone important someday. So, we will be relocating our D-box, paying a lot more for that process, but we will continue to have our integrity. That is what it’s all about. Our new owners will never know the turmoil we went through. But we will know they are getting the best we had to offer. I have to believe somewhere along the line that old saying about “the more you give, the more you get” comes and hunts us down. Justin and I always remain positive, but we’ve often said (with a smile) we find ourselves working twice as hard for half as much. But it’s our work. Our reward. So it’s ok.
