It's 6am on Sunday morning and I'm so excited I can't sleep. It's moving day! I'm also anxious because... In May, we packed up our Evart house and brought most of our belongings to storage thinking our basement living would be brief. In June, less than a week before we were supposed to close on our Evart house, we found out the sale was going to fall through due to problems with the buyer's financing. We decided to list with a realtor in July because the constant back and forth was getting to be too much. Less than a week on the market, we accepted an offer only to find out we had shown the house to the same couple when it was for sale by owner. At the end of September, it was finally time to close that chapter and hand over the keys to our first house. Later in the summer, we received news water got into our storage unit and they were working to dry things out. Handled that situation. Started working with a realtor in Grand Rapids. Put an offer in on a house in Grandville 4 days after closing on our Evart house and our offer was accepted-things were looking up. 9 days before we were set to close, we got a call that our realtor had passed away. And here we are, 6am Sunday morning, supposed to get the keys at 5pm and wondering what the day will bring. The worrier in me is already trying to organize an efficient move with the hope of sleeping in our new house before Thanksgiving. Yet, YET, speaking of Thanksgiving and gratitude there are other things you need to know about this move and basement living. We have such strong support. My parents had their kids move back in, back to back. They let us move in, with a 4-month-old. Babies come with LOTS of stuff. Bottles took over cupboards, laundry rooms weren't as tidy, the living room was a disaster zone when Nick learned to dumb out his town bin, and dirty dishes were often left in the sink. I can count on two hands the meals I've had to prepare the last 6 months. There have been numerous times my family has helped with last minute daycare pick ups. They've dealt with me asking everyone to be quieter during nap time. When quarters got too close, friends let us come over for a break, adjusted to a baby in the group during cottage weekends, offered to take Nick for sleepovers, and listened to discouragement about the housing market and tears about not knowing what's next. Basement living was what we needed for the past 6 months. An opportunity to not worry about a leaking roof, knob and tube wiring, bills...an opportunity to sit in grief, cry in church, and learn another new normal. A small house in Grandville is what's next and I believe it's exactly what we need. I wanted a house close to the cemetery where my Nick could walk to visit Uncle Nick. I wanted a house close to Kent Trails where we could bike and enjoy creation. I wanted something we could afford and maintain without so much stress. I wanted to be closer to support. The type of support where hanging out means not changing out of your yogas and watching a Lifetime movie while eating raw cookie dough. When grief hit us smack in the face again, I knew I needed to be closer to home home. Our Evart community brought us so much support too. In fact, there are several people meeting Austin at our storage unit in Big Rapids this morning to help load the moving truck. Our Evart community embraced us both in our coming and going. All these transitions have taught me one thing: love does. To our village, thank you for selflessly loving us and giving us a currency of love we can use forever.
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Hi! I'm Haley. Archives
May 2019
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