In the early 1960’s, my “in-laws” hired me and their son Bob to paint the family home during the summer, again!
As you know, the house had an attic and was 3 stories high at its peak. We didn’t have ladders long enough to reach the apex so my mother-in-law (Nana) decided if we put the existing ladder on the porch at the back of the house, it could reach the very peak. The problem was that the porch was rather small and the ladder would have to be placed at a very steep angle to reach the top. Nana decided that I could climb to the top of the ladder, but there was the danger that it could “fall away” from the house because of the steepness. So, she went up to the attic, shoved a rope out of the attic window, attached it to the ladder and held it tightly so that the ladder would not topple over.
You have to picture this. My mother-in-law is holding the scary ladder set-up with a rope from the attic window. If she lets go of the rope, her favorite son-in-law (me), could topple over backwards and be killed. In effect, she held my life in her hands. I bet there are a lot of mother-in-laws in this world that would like to be holding the rope that controls their son-in-law.
Nana’s decision was to hold the rope firmly. I climbed the steep ladder and painted the top portion of the house. Nana had made her decision. She let me live.
To this day I do not know why Nana didn’t work with her own son (Bob) to climb the ladder. I guess she had already decided he was going to live!
Knowing Nana, her only goal was to paint the top of the house. Over the years, I’ve often wondered if she had other thoughts enter her mind.
If Nana had let go of the rope, you Grasshoppers would not be here! Think about that.
Love.
Dad