My Adventures with Wendy #1

My wife Wendy passed away on December 23, 2013. She was 46 years old. Wendy was outgoing, friendly and social. Where I was reserved and shy (almost to the point of being anti-social). We were the embodiment of the statement: Opposites attract.

Wendy helped me to go outside my comfort zone and to believe in myself. What I offered her was logic and calmness when we were buffeted by life's trials. We had five children together. Three of which still live at home. These are some anecdotes of my time with Wendy. So I will add to this from time to time.

Wendy's personality could be stated as: That sounds like fun. Let's do it!
Often without thinking or planning ahead she would want to get on with it. This on occasion got her and I into trouble.


The Case of the Missing Carpet
It was probably around 1999 that Wendy and I had been discussing maybe replacing the carpeting in the family room of our house with wood flooring. We had talked about and wanted to do it, but did not make any specific plans for when.

One day Wendy had decided to surprise me with a new wood floor. She had started (with the kids help) to pull up the carpet. They had managed to remove all the carpet and then she called the flooring places. What she didn't realize was that installers could not install new floor until at the soonest in two weeks. When she learned this she panicked.

"Maybe if we put all the furniture back into place dad won't notice." she said to my oldest daughter Jennifer.
"Dad is clueless. But he's not that clueless. He is going to notice that the carpet is missing."
"How was I to know that there would be concrete under the carpet? Help me move the furniture back."

When I came home I saw rolled up carpet all over our front lawn. I walked into the house the furniture was in it's regular places, but it was all on the concrete subfloor.

"Hi honey. How was your day?" Wendy asked nervously.
I couldn't do anything but stare at her for a long moment.
"Are you hungry? I've cooked your favorite meal."
"Yes. I am hungry, but I am also trying to figure out what happened."
"What do you mean?"
"Why is the carpet all torn up?"
"Oh, You noticed that?"
"Yeah. I certainly noticed... Well?"
There was a long pause before Wendy explained that she wanted to surprise me with new wood floors. She looked so terrified that she had screwed up so badly that I said. "Okay. What's for dinner then?"

I had learned long ago with Wendy to roll with the punches. Getting mad or upset didn't change anything, and it certainly didn't help things.

It turned out that the installers could not make it for about four weeks. During that time any sound made in the front room echoed loudly. I didn't realize how much sound concrete could reflect. I worried that with wood floors we would have the same issue. When the wood floors were in it looked beautiful and they somehow did not echo.