Commitment is a rare commodity

We've listed our home as a rental. A Korean woman calls asking if it's available within a span of 24 hours. It turns out she is asking for a friend who is immigrating to Portland with her husband and middle school son. They are staying at a motel in the neighborhood and need a place ASAP. I thought I could help them out by offering them to stay with us while we get ready to move out and that the house would be empty by September 24th and their stuff would arrive on the 28th so everything seems perfectly timed, right? Nope.

I thought since they were Korean too, they could cook using my very stocked Korean kitchen, help themselves to a nice backyard grill and patio, sleep in air-conditioned rooms with each in a bed, all utilities paid for the month, etc., etc. They were supposed to call later in the day to come over to meet me. They never called. I wound up looking up their number in the caller ID and called them instead. They had to think about it, the friend said. Oh well, your loss.

I was thinking after that phone call that I wouldn't want people who say they're going to call and don't to live with us anyway, let alone rent our house. Imagine, I hear on the phone after weeks of backed rent, "We'll pay it today," and never do. I'd be waiting forever.

It reminds me of my dating days when I was swinging from guy to guy like Tarzan on a vine. Each time, I thought the conditions and timing were just right when I'd get hit with some lame break up excuse like, "I'm not ready for marriage yet," or "We need to live together first." Blah, blah. It's really difficult to meet people who are as committed as Mike and I are to each other and to our children. While I may complain and get ornery from time to time, the foundation based on the vows we exchanged was never shaky. This is on a larger level, I suppose, a little different from committing oneself to a one year home rental lease but Mike and I are the same way about the little things too.

Once we say we're going to do something, we just do it.