"Here it is!" I declare, and fold my arms over my chest with a proud grin.

My soon-to-be father in-law stares at the project blankly. His reaction is not what I expected.

"This?" he says. "This heap of dirt is your project? This is what you've spent two months and two hundred-thousand dollars on?"

I don't know what to say, so I just stand there, looking back and forth between him and the project. He sputters and fumes and spews obscenities, then storms off to his car and slams the door. The Mercedes peels out in the gravel road and leaves me standing in a cloud of dust, watching the car disappear into the distance.