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holding out

The other day we got an unexpected check in the mail.
A fat one.
Not super fat, like go on a cruise kind of fat. But nice.
One that will keep us from biting our nails at the end of the month and let me pay off some medical bills and bought my baby girl a ridiculously cute Easter dress.

Thank you Bartlett Shale and Chesepeake Oil company.

But I still hesitated to cash it because I was wondering if we held out if we would get more. The check was for an extension on our mineral rights because they are drilling for gas in the vicinity.
When it was time for the original lease, a man knocked on our door and offered us a check for 800$.
I was thrilled. I didn’t immediately sign on the dotted line. I did a little research. I called my dad all to make sure that this was legit. Eventually we signed and cashed our check. I thought we were being responsible. And if you live in our area you know that most people got A LOT more than we did.

What we didn’t do, that our neighbors did.
Was haggle.
We didn’t try and deal and we didn’t ask for more.
Because neither me nor my husband are really good at that.
I mean I do take pride in a bargain, but I don’t like the haggling part.
And my husband….well he’d pay full price in Mexico if you let him.
So when we found out that our neighbors got so much more,
Suddenly I felt cheated.
Suddenly a surprise 800$ didn’t seem like enough and left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Because someone else got more.
And greed doesn’t taste very good.
I let what I didn’t have take the joy out of what I did.
Because when it comes down to it,
And the end of the day I was still given a pretty nice ridiculously unexpected gift.

So again I called my dad. Shaun got out the original lease and we asked around.
And eventually we cashed the check.
And celebrated our unexpected blessing.
Regardless of what our neighbors get.
Holding out for more might just rob me of what I have right now.
And that isn’t worth it.
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Comments

Esther said…
I love your writing. I can tell already that yours is going to be one of my favorite blogs!!
March 26, 2010 at 2:30 PM
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