The lender has funded the loan, which means we are now Fully Chonky with finance and the title will transfer this afternoon.

I'm so thrilled for you! I so clearly remember the feeling when we got all of that done on this house.

I'm so thrilled for you! I so clearly remember the feeling when we got all of that done on this house.

We have the keys!

We wandered around in the Garden apartment which we can start furnishing immediately. And....it's not big enough to have a full diner booth. But JZ correctly noted that one bedroom can be the main bedroom, and the other bedroom will be a living room/convertible couch bed room. And that the window nook area is still fine for a smaller dinette set.

The garden however, is lovely, and has warm glowing lights out there, and we have five trees in our backyard and a view of St. Ignatius' two towers: [link]

I think we're both in more shock than elation. I feel much the same way I did on the first night I did when I arrived at college where I walked around with my high school best friend and we said, "Welp. Here we are. This place that will change our lives. I wonder how that's going to work out."

(Spoiler note: it worked out very well, but there was just no context for that first night and there's no context for a new house until you get in there and make it your own.)

I personally am feeling like a dog that went chasing a car like an idiot and actually caught it--not only caught a car but caught it the very first time out. Look, I was TOLD and TOLD by experienced car-chasers that (a) I might very well never catch one at all, ever, and (b) I definitely wouldn't catch the first, or second, or third, or fifth, or in this town even tenth, so I'd better be ready to play the long game. So I took a random lunge at one and now I've got it and as God is my witness I have no idea what to do next.

OTOH, the night before we did our last walk-through and decided to put in the offer, Hec and I watched a YouTube reaction video of someone watching It's A Wonderful Life for the first time, and we watched Mary working hard on the old Granville place ("It's full of romance, that place." "That place? I wouldn't live in it as a ghost."), cosseting it and coaxing it into life and warmth out of sheer love and refusal to give up on something nearly broken whose essential worth she deeply believes in. And it heartened both of us. And then tonight the owner's DIL told us, "I'm so glad you got it, and not someone who wanted to wreck it or push everyone out."

So we'll tend to it and care for it for however many years it takes, inch by inch, crack by crack, nook by nook and cranny by cranny.

I'm so very happy for you. No doubt there is a flood of varying emotions! Breathe! Enjoy! Although Brendon suffered through many of his house restoration projects, the satisfaction with the results was quite worthwhile. (He offers to help anytime!) Also, picturing JZ as the cutest enthusiast car chasing puppy ever.

Two weeks from today I will be homeless! One of our big differences is that I can make a decision in about 30 seconds, while Brendon debates all the options endlessly. We have not secured dock space for a live-aboard, but it may still be possible at end of season, which generally is about May 1, or before/after Easter/Passover, depending on the seasonal family's traditions or visa status. All options are still open, renting until we find the perfect place, staying with my BIL temporarily until we make a decision, going north to arrange contractors for doing things to the Otter Lake house. We'll probably take a trip up there anyway since we have to stash the small boat somewhere and it lives up there in summer anyway. It would be a short NY visit as the normal seasonal temps are 40s in the day and upper 20s at night, and rain, and mud and black flies. So yeah, all is up in the air.

I woke up at FOUR, what the shit.

I could go get kolaches, but it's 31 degrees outside.

JZ and Hec gave me allergies this morning. I'm so happy for all of you!

Oh, JZ as the house-chasing dog gave me so much joy. I am so thrilled for you and your family. I know few people who love San Francisco as you two do, and I know you will love and cherish that beautiful house.

And, yay, Laura and Brendon becoming homeless in the best way! I can't wait until you have your big boat and a port to call home.

Putting a little space between that wonderful news and my own stuff...

It's been a tough week here. Without going into too much detail, a week and a half ago, three of our colleagues (mom and two daughters who all work in the business office) lost their husband/father suddenly, and last week my coworker S and her wife lost their 14-month-old son in a tragic accident. Our community is reeling. It makes me physically sick to think about that loss of their little boy, their only child.

Things have also gotten worse with my dad's dementia, and I'm taking a three-week leave at the end of April to live with him and try to work on transitioning to more regular care. He won't consider assisted living (and I think it would put him in a faster decline), so I'm scrambling to get him on the Medicaid waiting list to qualify him for some daily in-home help. Meanwhile, he doesn't understand any of it and is getting frustrated and angry more easily, and we can't afford more than the two days a week we are already paying for private care.

And everyone in my family keeps telling me how amazing I am and how strong I am, and it makes me so uncomfortable because I'm just doing what I have to do, you know? And I don't have anyone in the family able/willing to help, so it's literally all on me, and although ND has been an absolute rock of support and love and IS willing to help, there's only so much he can do. And I can't even be upset with his family since Dad moved to Florida and is a hermit who never helped them. His two older sisters are in their 80s and his young sister is in her early 70s and has two grandchildren she cares for part time, so they really can't do anything anyway.

I fly out again tomorrow for the weekend to get him to his neurologist and then ND will be there in a couple of weeks for work and will check on him then. I'm just hoping everything I've put in place will hold until I can take leave. If I have to take it before then, I will, but it would be very difficult to miss school until then (trying desperately to finish the yearbook), and I have a journalism convention (with students) the first week of my break, and ND and I actually booked five nights in Hawaii the second week of my break that I would really like to not cancel if there's any way to make it work. I desperately need a vacation.

So. It's a lot.

That is a lot. It's too much.

Kristin, I'm so sorry. That's just so much for you to take on and from a distance.

Papa got moved to a rehabilitation facility last night. He already wants to go home, which is not possible right now. He is possibly the most stubborn person I know, which considering how many really stubborn people I know, is saying a lot. And I feel terrible that so much of this is landing on my mother who is exhausted.