Is the third time the charm?

It had better be because Marilyn is out looking at carpet (against my better judgement). So now I'm settled down enough to blog about it. Last Tuesday, I had work planning meetings all day so they invited spouses to go after our last meeting to the "Communal" restaurant on 100 North University in Provo (I don't recommend it). Marilyn drove down to meet me for dinner. It's been a crazy few weeks with moves and tending kids and garbage disposal burning out and...and....well, lots of things to do. Marilyn had been visiting her parents before dinner (had taken them dinner) and needed to go back there for a while. I went home and was looking forward to just chillin' for a while. I got home around 7:30 pm, messed around a bit and had just sat down at 8pm to watch a show for the first time in weeks. Not 5 minutes later I heard Brett from downstairs yelling "Hey dad...you had better come look at this....quick!". I went down to find an inch or so of standing water in our NEW play room and looking at the window well I could see about 6 inches of water behind the glass (like a fish tank). You can imagine what the rest of the evening was like...thank goodness for Brett's help. We even had to take up the carpet tiles in the fruit room.

Now...go back in time a couple of years. We had a water problem in that room while it was unfinished. We found it was because of leaving the water running in the flower bed in the front. The Novell warehouse had some free carpet strips used at trade shows they were getting rid of so I took them home and laid them down, knowing there was a possibility they could get wet..but hey..they were free...and were in strips. Well, once again the sprinkler was left on a little too long and I had to take out the carpet strips to dry (not easy when they are soaked with water.) We dried the place out with fans, put the carpet back and went on with life.

Fast forward a year or so and I had built shelves in the middle of the room and attached them to the floor/ceiling for stability. They were on top of the carpet and we had a lot of other things piled in that room as well as it was just being used as storage. Well, Marilyn had put a soaker hose around the flower bed & window wells. You guessed it...she forgot and left the water running. Repeat clean out of the room, but this time I just cut the carpet around the shelves so I could take it out and just left the shelves in place. Not a lot of damage because the room was unfinished...just mighty inconvenient to have to rip it all out and dry it again. I pulled out the soaker hose and we agreed to NEVER let the water run in that front flower bed area again. When I finished the room we talked about getting real carpet but didn't because getting a laid down carpet soaked would be disasterous...we decided to give it a year to see if we could make it without a flood.

Now it's last Tuesday and I had just seen the water built up behind the window. I ran upstairs and outside to find...you guessed it....a sprinkler running just to the side of the window well. Heaven only knows how long it had been running there....Marilyn had been gone for hours. When we had everything all pulled out, I noticed the corner of the wall/floorboards closest to the front door was covered in mildew...apparently from some past sprinkler event in the flowers in front of our porch (that's the corner where that water runs when there is too much water there.)

To say I was so mad I could spit was putting it mildly. It really is a good thing Marilyn wasn't home yet or I pro'ly would have ruined our marriage right there. Steam was coming out of my ears for about 30 minutes but then I thought rationally about it and decided it was just another accident that my girl had because her mind was getting as bad as mine at remembering things. Also I thought...I could get really, really, really mad at her and have an enemy for months/years/forever, or I could just be calm and try to solve the problem and preserve our marriage.

So...here we are. We agreed to NEVER let the water run in the flower garden again (sound familiar?) I do think it has embedded itself into Marilyn's mind now however. (If I ever do *see* water running unattended anywhere along the front of the house again, I'll take out all water faucets in the front yard!)

Today is Saturday an the carpet strips are still out in the back/side yards drying and where is Marilyn? Out buying carpet. "Let's leave the strips in for a year to see if we can do it...oh...we had yet another big flood....let's just put carpet down instead of putting the ugly strips back again." I don't get the logic but I'll flow with it. (no pun intended with the word FLOW). Why?  THIS IS WHY  She's my girl.  I love her.  Nothing else is as important as that.  Take Wesley's attitude toward Buttercup as an example.  "As you wish".  My life is definitely better since I've made that life change and I hope hers is too.  I hope YOU kids will remember this some night when you look over at your spouse in bed and just wish they were somewhere else.  It will happen. You can think you are right and let your attitude make both of you miserable, or you can say hakunna matatta and go on with life being happy.  HA!  you didn't realize this post was going to be another stupid 'advice from dad' post didja!?! 

So...the question remains...IS the third time the charm?....or will I have to pull up carpet, move shelves, toys, books, desks,entertainment centers, tables, benches, and the tread mill again in the future?  Your guess is as good as mine.  Marilyn, what do YOU think? :-)

Comments

Erica said…
Whoa. I am so sorry. Glad it wasn't any worse!
Christa said…
Maybe she did it on purpose so she could GET new carpet. Maybe she's not as forgetful as you think!
Cambrienelson said…
Thanks for not killing my mother. Your advice is excellent. Besides, in a situation like that I'm sure she KNOWS what she did wrong and feels guilty enough. But I also think your consequence for future sprinkler incidents is also wise.
Well done dad.
Marilyn said…
Honey, you know what one of your talents remains being? Pointing out in great detail all of my weaknesses for the world to see. Thanks. It means a lot to me.

Popular posts from this blog

A tale of two Brians

Common Answers: November Results