Together on Top of the World by Phil Ershler & Susan Ershler

Author:Phil Ershler & Susan Ershler [ERSHLER, PHIL]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SPO029000
ISBN: 9780446194402
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2007-04-01T16:00:00+00:00

Shortly after we got back from Kili I realized I had been thinking about something all wrong. For some time now I had been casually looking to buy a house. I knew exactly what I wanted: something in the Cascade foothills just beyond the suburbs, with easy access to the city and direct access to my mom; someplace where the neighbors weren’t right on top of me and I could see the mountains out my window. But after Kilimanjaro, I realized there was a flaw in my thinking. If I wanted Sue to be my partner, I needed to think in terms of a house for both of us. And that promptly changed everything.

There was no getting around the fact that Sue and I wanted different things. I wanted rural; she wanted close to town. I wanted rustic; she wanted more amenities. I was a financial tightwad; she was willing to spend. The issue had all the makings of our first real tug-of-war. To start the negotiations I suggested North Bend, a town thirty miles east of Seattle. Sue said it was too long a commute.

“Okay,” I said, “how about the Sammamish Plateau, ten minutes closer in?”

Still too far. “Let’s try Kirkland,” she suggested, the suburb where her condo was.

“Too close,” I said, “not to mention out of our price range.” We hadn’t even looked at anything yet, and already we were disagreeing.

The Realtor showed me a great lot right near Lake Sammamish that I thought was a perfect compromise. Sue talked to the Realtor about Kirkland.

“Why don’t I just buy the next-door condo in your building?” I teased.

She looked at me eagerly.

Finally I had to admit that Sue had a legitimate point. I would be gone nearly half the year while she would be commuting daily. I needed to give on the location. “All right,” I said, “you go out with the Realtor and find us something in Kirkland.” I thought there was no way they’d find something in our price range.

But one day, she and the Realtor drove me past neatly landscaped suburban homes to an overgrown lot on a corner. In the middle stood a dilapidated shack.

“Sue,” I said, “I’ve known dogs with nicer houses than that.”

She rolled her eyes. “Look down there.”

I followed her finger and there, maybe ten blocks away at the bottom of the hill, small white triangles were sailing across a sea of blue: Lake Washington. I looked back at the lot. It was a good size and sloped upward to a knoll about twenty feet above the street. I could easily imagine how we could site a house. I looked back at the lake. It wouldn’t be visible from the windows, but driving in or walking out to the mailbox we’d be staring right at it. Heck, the tightwad part of me thought, we’ll have a great view when we’re driving home and we won’t have to pay for it! I looked at Sue. “Susan, I don’t know how you did it, but I think this could work.

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