Absentia

Hello there. How're things? My how time flies when one stops posting regularly. I see my last visit was back in April.. right before the SIX MONTHS OF DOOM commenced. Misfortune. Calamity. Ruin. Okay - maybe not ruin, but there was a threat of litigation at one point, which is bad enough.

It all starting with this grand idea we had to buy a larger home - our dream home - that just happened to come on the market one fateful day last March. We had toyed with the idea of upgrading our square footage for a while, but had a lot of pretty extreme qualifiers: existing neighborhood; pool - without sacrificing a backyard; fireplace; time machine and tree that grows money (ha - just kidding on that last one - everyone knows those time machine homes NEVER go on the market). Yet suddenly one day, there it was, in all its colonial glory.

So we tour it, make an offer, make a second offer and sign a contract on it all in less than 48 hours. We thought, "Gee! That was easy!" Clearly that home was MEANT for us and the good housing karma will continue to bless us as we put our beloved first home on the market. It is in a desirable area with great schools and one of the largest lots on that street - score! We'll be flooded with offers! We'll be beating them back sticks! So - we went on the market that second weekend in April all cocky and confident that we had listed da bomb house at the very beginning of the hottest time of the year market wise.

*crickets*

As it turns out - we did actually have a ton of "activity" (real estate agent term for "lookee loos") - averaging one or two showings every day or so - insane activity, or as our seller's agent liked to say "the record for the most amount of activity without an offer". Hmmm.. can you please put that on a statue or plaque for my new, colonial mantle please?

I will not (and cannot, due to my post traumatic stress disorder from the experience) go into details, but I will tell you that it took four, yes FOUR offers - as in formal contracts that buyers ultimately canceled - and almost seven months, before we got a buyer that stuck. The housing market tanking did not help matters. Nor did the expensive plumbing issue discovered during an inspection. Closing on that house was definitely a happy day, but I personally felt so beat-down and wrung out by the experience, it was ultimately anti-climactic.

People. I truly believe that level of stress will ultimately kill you if you have to endure it long-term. It is not good for your health (more on that below). It is not good for your marriage. It is not good for your job (Hello? Focus?). I ended up suffering from viral meningitis for six weeks during this nightmare, as well as a pretty significant depression. Chad was impacted in much the same way (minus the meningitis), but had to put up with me in addition, so that just tells you what HE endured.

We learned a lot. We grew together (and apart at times). I think we have ended up in a grateful place. I know I have. During that trying time, I turned inward and shut a lot of things out of my life. It was necessary - I had no bandwidth for anything but just getting through the day and hoping for a better tomorrow. Recent events like serious illnesses among friends and family, the future of our nation and of course getting older, have made me want to live more openly. To share more, love more and be more - for my family, my friends and myself. I hope this little blog will be part of that process.