Amazing Grandpa

Dear Child,

What a day it has been. This morning, I gathered up my courage. Hoping against all hope, I called up the agent.

If you never ask, you'll never know.

It started off with me rattling off a bunch of words that I strung together on the computer screen. It ended with me being grilled on the specifics of the nearby apartments whose prices I was comparing. What started as an effort to fish out "what's your lowest price" from the owner, ended up with me putting through a clear cut reduction of $20 less per week, with an additional year on the lease. She forced it out of me, literally. They are trained, the machine is infallible.

And so the offer went in. I was melting at my desk from all the stress that was piling up in my body. Sometime later, she calls back with a counter-offer - $10 bucks less per week with the additional year. I was ready to just throw in the towel. Spoke to Winnie. Spoke to Uncle Tim. I got Uncle Aaron on the case, who was just waking up. It was only 8.30am in Sarikei.

It's been a painful day. Days like these, you get ground to the bone, and the essence of who you are, and what your sub-stance is, gets tested.

In the end, what really made everything come together was when I got on the phone with your grandpa. I got to explain the situation - placed all my cards on the table, and worked through my thought processes. He chipped in a few thoughts, but the one thing that stuck most was what came after I took a stab at answering "What do you think is the best choice?"

"That's the right choice", he said, and it totally made my day.

My child, If I turn out to be half the dad your grandpa was to me, there might be hope for you and your generation. For your sake, I hope I turn out fine.

Daddy
06-Feb-08