Chapter 5: Planning for Change

Sharon did not implement Ann’s advice immediately. She knew that they couldn’t afford it. The cost of completely replacing her wardrobe would have been the financial blow that would break their back. Instead, she went through the house for a week making an honest assessment of what they owned. At the end of the week, she came to the conclusion that her house was filled with junk that was never used.

For the next week, Sharon started planning how to change her situation. At first, it seemed like a pretty bleak task. Money, which could have solved many problems, was in short supply. The house with four bedrooms, formal dining room, formal living room, family room, den, and the kitchen was way too much work for her to manage. The yard was just as much of a headache. The pool required significant effort on the part of Jim to keep clean. The flowerbeds needed constant attention. The huge lawn required Jim to spend a lot of time mowing it.

Greg did not see that Sharon was taking the initial steps to changing their lifestyle. He had hoped that the evening spent with the Greens would motivate his wife to change her appearance. She hadn’t changed her appearance and continued to wear the baggy clothes. The house remained a mess. He interpreted her focus on what she was doing as indifference. In a way, he was more disappointed than he could put into words. He started spending more time at the sports bar after work before coming home.

While nursing his after-work beer, he considered throwing in the towel and filing for a divorce. He decided that with the kids at home that it wasn’t the right time. Next year, his son would be a senior and his daughter a sophomore in high school. A divorce at that time would be devastating to the kids. He wasn’t sure how his wife would react. At times, he thought she might be angry while at other times he believed she would be relieved. Rather than decide, he continued to nurse his beer.

On the Saturday two weeks after the dinner with the Greens, he was in the den going over the bills. As he wrote the check for each bill, it was as though a small part of him died. After an hour, he stared at the stack of envelops in which he had tucked a check and the stack of envelops that remained. He was seriously depressed.

In what was almost an unheard of action on her part, Sharon came in the den and sat down. In a firm tone of voice, she said, “We need to talk.”

Gesturing to the bills, he said, “I don’t think talking is going to get rid of this stack of bills.”

Smiling, she said, “I want to sell the camper. We can get eighteen thousand for it. We owe six thousand on it.”

“Sell the camper? What about our summer vacation?”

“We rent one,” she answered. Smiling, she said, “It’ll be a new one every year and will cost us a lot less than owning one.”

Sitting back in his chair, Greg considered what he could do with the extra twelve thousand dollars. There were a number of bills that he could eliminate with ease. Nodding his head, he said, “Okay.”

“I want to sell the boat. We don’t owe anything on it and we can get five thousand for it,” she said. She had spent a lot of time on the web researching the value of the boat and camper. She knew exactly how much they could get for them. In fact, she had already had a buyer for the boat.

“You want to sell the boat too?”

“We used it exactly once last year,” she said.

“I thought you enjoyed going to the lake.”

“We can go to the lake without a boat,” she replied. She glanced down at her list and said, “I want to hold a garage sale next weekend. I’ll need your help that day.”

Wondering why she was suddenly interested in selling off so many things, Greg immediately jumped to the conclusion that she was planning to divorce him. He frowned as he considered it. The idea hurt more than he thought possible, especially considering that he had similar thoughts of divorcing her.

He asked, “Why?”

“Our house is filled with junk that does nothing except collect dust. I spend hours every day doing nothing but cleaning this house and you can’t tell that I’ve done a thing. I’m tired of it.”

That was not the answer he was expecting. Curious, he asked, “What do you want to do with all this money?”

“We pay off some of our bills with half of the money. With the rest, I want to buy a new wardrobe. I want you to buy a new wardrobe.”

The idea of new wardrobes sounded like a step in the right direction. He sat up and paid closer attention to what she was saying and asked, “Anything else?

“If we pay off a few of our bills rather than reduce our balances on all of them, I figure that we would save almost five hundred a month on the bills. With that money, I want to hire a service to take care of the pool. We should also hire a service to take care of the lawn,” she answered.

“That sounds good to me,” Greg said. He wondered what it would be like to have most of Saturday free to do other things. He asked, “What about house work?”

“I will hire a maid service to come in one morning every week.”

Frowning, he asked, “Can we really afford to make all of these changes?”

“Well, there is one more change I want to make,” Sharon said with a frown. Looking at him in the eye, she said, “You are to stop going by the sports bar after work. If you want a drink, come home and have one by the pool or in the formal living room.”

Taken aback by the intensity with which she delivered her demand, he asked, “Where will you be?”

“I’ll be having a drink, too,” she said. Looking him in the eye, she said, “I want what Ann Green has.”

Curious, he asked, “What is it that she has that you want?”

“Jim chases her around the bedroom. By God, I want you to start chasing me around the bedroom,” Sharon said stabbing a finger into the arm of her chair. The tone of voice she used surprised even her.

Greg stared at Sharon stunned by what she said. He’d never heard her be so forceful about anything personal before. He didn’t mean to ask, but it just slipped out. “When is this chasing to occur?”

“When you and I are ready for it to happen,” she answered. She looked down at her sheet of paper and decided that she had covered all of the material on it. She said, “Get the boat registration and title. We are going to sell it.”

“Today?”

“Now,” she said standing up from the chair.

Greg and Sharon returned from the dealership where they had taken the boat. The dealer had also purchased the boating gear that was stored in the boat for an extra two hundred dollars. When they stepped into the house, Harry asked, “Where’s the boat?”

“We sold it,” Greg said. He looked down at the check and then over at Sharon.

Harry shrugged his shoulders and then headed towards his room. Sharon said, “Harry, we’re going to have a family meeting. Tell your sister to meet us in the family room.”

Family meeting? Harry stopped and looked at his parents wondering what they meant by a family meeting. The blank expression on his father’s face wasn’t all that reassuring. He wondered if they were getting a divorce. He knew enough kids in high school that were going through the divorce of their parents. It wasn’t pretty. Frowning, he headed down the hall to get his sister.

“Family meeting?” Greg asked raising an eyebrow.

Sharon nodded her head and said, “There are some changes coming and I want to make sure that everyone knows.”

“Okay,” Greg said wondering when she had taken control over their lives. He had never seen her acting so assertively without being a nag. He handed her the check and said, “You might want to take care of this.”

Folding it in half, she considered what she was going to do with the money. In a satisfied voice, she said, “Good.”

Greg followed Sharon into the family room. Much to his surprise, both kids were sitting on the couch looking worried. He shrugged his shoulders and enjoyed the irritated expressions that crossed their faces. He was half tempted to shrug his shoulders again, but resisted temptation.

Cathy saw the set expression on her mother’s face and turned to him. She asked, “What’s going on?”

He shrugged his shoulders again deciding that he really enjoyed being on the giving end of shrugged shoulders. Both kids glared at him. Sharon said, “Enough of that.”

Deciding that she wasn’t going to get anything out of her father, Cathy turned to her mother and asked, “What’s going on?”

Harry blurted out, “Are you guys getting a divorce?”

Deciding to let Sharon handle the questions, Greg took a seat and faced her. She answered, “No, we are not getting a divorce.”

“Oh, so what’s going on?”

“We are changing our lifestyle,” Sharon declared.

Harry frowned and asked, “You guys are turning gay?”

The question almost made Greg burst out in laughter. Even Sharon grinned at the question. Shaking her head, she answered, “No, we’re not turning gay.”

“Good. I’d hate to try and explain that to the guys at school.”

Cathy, face wrinkled as she thought about her mother’s announcement, suddenly smiled. She exclaimed, “You’re going to start living like the Greens! Aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Sharon answered. She looked at the two children and said, “From now on, we are going to be civilized with each other. There will be no more shrugging away questions.”

She turned to look at Greg and, rolling her eyes, said, “That goes for you too.”

“Ah! I just discovered how much fun it is,” he said. His quip brought smiles to the kids.

“We’ll use manners when we talk with each other. I know that will be tough since we aren’t used to it,” she said.

Harry raised his hand. After he was sure that he had the floor, he said, “I don’t really know manners.”

For the first time since embarking on this idea, Sharon had a real moment of doubt about what she wanted to accomplish. The fact was that she wasn’t all that confident about etiquette. After having watched Jim and Ann, she knew that being well mannered meant doing more than that old adage — age before beauty. She stuttered for a moment and then said, “I guess we will just have to learn them together.”