Our Mom

Many of you have enjoyed our narratives about our Mom. But most of our stories have been told from our perspective in a semi-mocking way. In a way that you may have thought of as exaggerated or regular kids-mock-their-mom kinds of things. We sisters have always struggled to accurately describe the colorful layers that make up the complex insanity of our Mom and the reality of living with it. Well, we have hit a gold mine here because the e-mail that follows is straight from her own little crazy factory. I hope you all are able to taste a little of the crazy here and admire us for our own accomplishments in the realm of surviving such an environment through our formative years and beyond. This is the actual, unedited e-mail to the association committee where they live and this is her effort to persuade them to get her way for a structure in her backyard. Keep in mind that they are submitting the request for permission after they have already built the structure so although she is on thin ice, she boldy continues. This is real. This is our Mom:

Hi Jim--

Thanks for your time today--I appreciate you letting me come to the committee meeting.

Here's what has taken place today. As I mentioned this morning, our landscapers came back today to finish the flagstone and minus. I had them cut the structure down as much as possible and it turned out to be very substantial--hope you can tell by the pictures. (Here's a before and today.) That was the plan--to cut it down and see the difference.

However, I'm going to be honest here, while I was at physical therapy, they did cement the poles in apparently so they could finish with the flagstone and minus. I'm not going to hold them responsible because that was the outcome we wanted anyway. I was hoping to get a call from the committee today anyway and they were aware of that.

So, we don't want to go against the committee--hopefully your answer is "yes" and we don't have a problem here. The one thing we don't want to happen is for your decision to be solely influenced by "a" neighbor. To be honest, I don't think they would have much of an issue now. Having said that, some people would complain no matter what and that's not fair. We are trying very hard to get along and be compliant, but we shouldn't have to be made to have "nothing" in our backyard and that's what it would take. There are too many tacky umbrellas and other structures around here to be putting us under a microscope.

We have two complaints about those same neighbors that we haven't mentioned to them and don't plan to--sometimes you just have to accept some things. 1) Our view from any room in the back of our house has a satellite dish in it--not pretty and it's not painted the color of the house. (I'm not making a formal complaint--just stating we could complain too. We understand the FCC rules, but according to our neighbors "rules", we are talking "views".)

The second complaint is a lot more worrisome and might be worth complaining about but it's not our nature. They are both smokers and when we sit on our patio, just outside our patio door, the air reeks of smoke. Second hand smoke--health issue?

It's like how far do we want to take these things. Why are people so grumpy.
By the way (and this is none of my business), I can tell Lester is "related"
to our neighbors. My first impression of the majority of the committee people seemed nice and reasonable but it only takes one bad apple to give the whole committee a bad name. I understand having association rules and appreciate them for the most part, but sometimes they can be taken too far.

We have reviewed the CC&R's at length and we cannot find where we would be in violation. If we are denied, it would be one of those "grey, subjective"
areas.

Sorry for using the backdoor here--that truly wasn't my intent. I guess I am asking you for any support you are able to give--I don't like being in trouble.

The structure is not complete--the poles are not across the top yet--it looks like it is still standing. The landscaper will be back on Monday to either wire the poles across the top or remove it!

Thanks!

Then she forwards me this follow-up e-mail thanking people who had prayed for her case. More tasty tidbits of crazy with an annointed twist. Classic.

Good Morning—this was yesterday’s news. A different Jim from the committee call yesterday morning and said they denied our structure due to aesthetics—they just weren’t sure it would fit in [active adult living community]—it was different. The more we talked he agreed it was just something new—I told him I sent Jim K. an email with before and after pictures. It turned out Jim K. forwarded my email to the committee—they were just getting it while we were on the phone. I told him not to let everyone see it because I had complained about Lester and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He very quickly said Lester was no longer a part of the committee—yesterday was his last meeting. Guess they thought he was pretty grumpy too. And, I fessed up to cementing the posts but asked him not to spread it around too much. He sounded okay and said he, Jim and Karen would have a discussion when they meet back in the office on Monday and let me know.

Close that door. Now look at the response below we got back from our complaining neighbors! Now she can’t wait to see the flowers!

Needless to say “I”, Linda was dancing around, “I”, told Steve “I” wanted a raise, “I” am so good... Then I heard myself and thanked God because He is so good. Guess it really helped to get out the big guns and put Michael and Mama Hill on this project—tell them thanks for me for now. I will give them a call as soon as I get out another S**** B**** order. Thanks for your prayers too!

I’m getting a little better in my old age to give God the credit first. I don’t twitch my fanny as much as I used to and say, “I’m so good”. But the truth of why I don’t do that is because it causes a tidal wave these days! It’s worse than jello!

God is good.