As anyone who's ever read a love story knows, the wedding is usually the last chapter of the book. But in a real love story, there's so much more to be told. So much happens in the happily ever after. And that’s what the sequel is for: to tell the story of two people as husband and wife as they live and grow together. So here are pages from our sequel.
THE FLEA EPISODE
“Um, Ryan?” I said into the phone. “I think we might have bed bugs.”
I had rolled out of bed a few minutes after Ryan left for church. He had to help with music practice, and I planned to meet him there. But as I laid out my clothes on the bed, I saw a little fleck of something jump. Convinced it was a bug, I grabbed my phone.
Two hours later, Ryan was home, armed with bug bombs and aerosol sprays. Convinced we had a full blown infestation on our hands, I had scoured the entire bedroom on my hands and knees looking for more bugs. I only spotted two more, and in spite of the fact that the bugs were super tiny, I had determined that it looked more like a flea than the bed bug photos I had found on google.
The little yellow house had fleas.
“But we had the entire house cleaned when we moved in and no animals have been in the house since! How could this have happened?”
We both stared at each other in confusion for a few moments and then it dawned on us. The carpet in the garage!
During our first walk through the house it was very clear that the previous owners were not very handy or very devoted to cleanliness. Everything was dingy. The cat’s food and water dish sat on top of the kitchen table. The kitchen counters and cabinets were coated with a thick layer of grime. The décor in the home looked like they had purchased everything from an 85 year old woman’s garage sale. The entire house needed a good scrubbing from professional cleaners. So it really shouldn’t have surprised us that the carpet had fleas.
The professional cleaners came, scrubbed the house from top to bottom, and shampooed the carpets. But we had already torn up the living room carpet in preparation for new flooring before we moved in. We slid a piece of it underneath the washer and dryer and didn’t have another thought about it. Until we realized that Sunday morning a month or so later… that piece of carpet had never been cleaned.
Several loads of laundry and smelly sprays later, we had a flea-free home.
Pages from the Sequel:
Return from Jamaica
The Little Blue House
The Ugly Yellow House
The Flea Episode
The Bathroom Leak
The Dinner Disaster
Baby on Board
The Story of Lucy
The Vanishing Bread
Midnight Dance with Darcy
Nighttime Feedings
Our David & Goliath Moment
Beach Day
I Love You