thanks mom and dad

my parents are extremely honest people. they taught me and my brothers to be honest even if no one would ever know. the grocery clerk gives you an extra dollar in change? you give it back. the pizza delivery man delivers an extra pizza? call them and let them know (it could have been someone else's pizza!). you get the idea.

i think i've done a pretty good job of following their example (yes, there have been times...but for the MOST part). not because i try to or because i've worked at it but because it's part of who i am; my parents wove that lesson into our everyday life and modeled the behavior for us. for our family it's no different than holding the door for someone or saying please and thank you.

today, at the new house (sorry, jim - you knew i was going to weave the new house into this somehow, right?), i noticed that they installed an extra garage door opener. we only paid for one garage door opener (on the double garage door). i mentioned it to one of the workers and he looked at me and snickered. he told me i should just be quiet and not say anything.

but that's just not me. i make sure to tell the builders when they've forgotten to install something we paid for, so i think i should be just as up front about freebies they've thrown in accidentally.

so this afternoon i sat down to write an email to our project manager and when i opened my mail program, found i already had an email from him. he wanted to let me know that they accidentally ordered two garage doors openers and wanted to know if it would be alright if they kept it in (at no charge to us) since it would cost them money to have the people come back out and take it down.

i emailed back that we were fine with the extra door opener and told him that i was just sitting down to email him to let him know. his response was a sort of stunned, 'thanks. most people would have just not said anything. thanks for your honesty.'

don't thank me. thank my mom and dad.