{"id":961,"date":"2017-04-08T14:00:20","date_gmt":"2017-04-08T18:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/takethepatience.com\/?p=961"},"modified":"2017-04-08T14:00:20","modified_gmt":"2017-04-08T18:00:20","slug":"95-america-street-chapter-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/takethepatience.com\/?p=961","title":{"rendered":"95 America Street, Chapter 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

April, 2005<\/em><\/p>\n

The next day was free of dramatic confrontations.\u00a0 Mr. Pemberton had decided to let me finish my current work before approaching another realtor.\u00a0 I told him I was fine if he hired another realtor immediately but he refused.<\/p>\n

I stayed a little later than normal as I wanted to finish painting \u201cThe Fight\u201d room, or the room where Diane Spinster and I had our battle.\u00a0 It was about eight o\u2019clock or so when I finished cleaning my brush in the big soap stone sink in what felt like a prehistoric basement.\u00a0 I walked up the stairs and into the kitchen to find Mr. Pemberton preparing his dinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould you like to stay for dinner?\u00a0 I\u2019m cooking some salmon and potatoes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh jeez, thank you but I don\u2019t wanna make more work for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely no problem.\u00a0 There may be an 18-year old scotch that precedes the dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cArm twisted…where do I sign?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to sign anything but you do need to pour us some Glenlivet.\u00a0 The glasses are in the cabinet of the dishwasher.\u00a0 If you want ice, please grab some out of the freezer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you Mr. Pemberton but I have no intention of poisoning this elite glass of scotch with Boston water.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood man!\u00a0 Although I do recommend putting a few drops of some bottled water in your scotch.\u00a0 It opens up the flavor a little more.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was right.\u00a0 Mr. Pemberton was full of knowledge that made life so appealing. \u00a0And the great thing was that there was never any arrogance or pressure that accompanied his advice which made me trust and want to follow it that much more.\u00a0 Some part of me shuts down whenever someone haughtily tries to force-feed me knowledge, even knowledge that helps me avoid certain disaster.<\/p>\n

Mr. Pemberton brought two plates of masterfully prepared food to the table.\u00a0 As he set the plates down, he asked me, \u201cBeer or wine?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll take some of that red you\u2019re drinking if you don\u2019t mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cExcellent.\u00a0 I know you\u2019re not supposed to drink red wine with fish but one day I simply decided that I would dictate what wine I would drink with what dishes.\u00a0 That was a good day.\u201d\u00a0 He handed me a glass of something that smelled better than I could ever hope to.\u00a0 We ate.\u00a0 He asked about my background and I told him.<\/p>\n

He asked about my current line of work; was it something I wanted to do forever?\u00a0 I told him that I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never known.\u00a0 Sometimes I thought I knew what I wanted but then something else would interest me.\u00a0 When I was a child, I thought I would have figured it all out by now.\u00a0 I thought I would have had a wife and a family and a house.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t necessarily have any regrets but I couldn\u2019t help but wonder what might have happened if I did things differently.\u00a0 I was still young at the point of this conversation but I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve changed my overall approach to life.\u00a0 I try to do the right thing each day and enjoy the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis approach seems to have compromised a potentially rich future or a meaningful career but it has not compromised my soul, I feel.\u00a0 So no matter what, I feel that when I die, I will have few regrets.\u201d<\/p>\n

He smiled at this.\u00a0 It was almost a smile of relief.\u00a0 He knew I wasn\u2019t trying to impress him.\u00a0 He knew I was being plain.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you want from life?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the same thing I\u2019ve always wanted.\u00a0 I want to have a strong connection with God.\u00a0 I want to be as God wants me to be\u2026whatever that means.\u00a0 If being a handyman and living from job to job is what this means, then so be it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you at peace with your life now as it is?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 Part of me feels I will be someday, that I will either encounter a more fulfilling and inspiring way to spend my days or that I will simply become completely at peace with my current life.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of Mr. Pemberton\u2019s questions were asked in a consistent, even manner, as if I were on the stand being questioned by a really nice lawyer who really liked me.\u00a0 He may not have known all the answers but upon hearing my answers, he showed no great surprise.\u00a0 I seemed to be confirming his instincts. \u201cWould you ask God for these answers?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u00a0 I honestly feel like I\u2019m pestering God with such questions.\u00a0 If we believe God to be a perfect or omniscient force that we have complete faith in, then I feel it\u2019s my obligation to have complete faith in His will, even if I suffer.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I\u2019m supposed to have all the answers.\u00a0 I feel I\u2019m supposed to muck about in the uhh, well, muck, I guess, for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

My last response caused him to reflect for a few moments.\u00a0 \u201cI admire your faith.\u00a0 I don\u2019t say that in a trite or condescending way; I do genuinely admire your faith.\u00a0 I have seen so much death and war that my faith has decayed.\u00a0 Ironically, the more my faith decayed, the more successful I became in my career.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if the two are related.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying only faithless people become successful but what I can tell you is that I felt a hole in me and evolving my career seemed to fill that hole at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I have experienced the opposite!\u00a0 I have held onto my faith and watched my career stagnate.\u00a0 Perhaps we can find a way to hold onto our faith and enjoy some human success.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I think we can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April, 2005 The next day was free of dramatic confrontations.\u00a0 Mr. Pemberton had decided to let me finish my current work before approaching another realtor.\u00a0 I told him I was fine if he hired another realtor immediately but he refused. I stayed a little later than normal as I wanted to finish painting \u201cThe Fight\u201d … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “95 America Street, Chapter 7”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[278,284],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-95-america-street","category-chapter-7"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ImM6-fv","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/takethepatience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/takethepatience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/takethepatience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takethepatience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takethepatience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/takethepatience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":962,"href":"https:\/\/takethepatience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions\/962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/takethepatience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takethepatience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takethepatience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}