Hello, and happy Sunday!
We just returned from a weeklong stay at a nearby lake house with some friends, and talk about a much-needed refresh! No cell or Internet service, remote lake, and plenty of laughs were exactly what our family needed.
Just three days before we left for vacation we learned that the buyers of our home backed out of the deal due to issues with financing. This meant that closing on our new house was also in jeopardy. Within an hour, our townhouse was re-listed, and within two hours we had requests for showings. Meanwhile, our place was scattered with boxes and 80% of our belongings had already been moved into a storage unit.
I was sick from the stress and devastated that it all could come crashing down at any minute, especially since we are so financially – and emotionally – invested in the home at this point. Reggie even made a paper chain that he hung in his room. He was removing a link each day as a countdown to our new house.
I took Thursday off from work and spent the entire day cleaning, organizing, and staging the best I could. Luckily, we still have our plants here, so those brought some color, warmth, and life into the space. I also moved a few mirrors around to brighten things up, and spent the rest of my energy on making sure the house was clean and orderly. (I plan to do a longer post on how to stage your home for a successful showing very soon!)
Then came the real work – vacating the house solo with two kids and two dogs. I happened to have agreed to watch my sister’s dog, Kallie, while she went out of town before all of this went down. My hands were full.
I took the car-full to a nearby park. I looked like that scene from the Beverley Hillbillies, cruising down the road with a car stuffed to the brim with animals, people, and boxes of random stuff. The only thing missing was the granny on the roof.
Anyway, I figured they could run around while we waited for the showings to finish, but naturally the shit (literally) hit the fan. Benson, our dog, apparently had to go number two. While I was trying to clean up that mess, Andrea ran off and filled her diaper while Kallie ran in the opposite direction and figured it was a good time for her to poop too. To make matters worse, it began pouring rain. Needless to say, it was a total shit show. Once I managed to wrangle everyone and get them (and their poop) cleaned up and back in the car I was in tears. The weight of the week hit me and I called Matt exhausted and hysterically crying.
I went to bed that night feeling hopeless only to wake up the next morning – 24 hours before we were to leave for vacation – with a text from a fellow parent that there was a positive COVID-19 case at the kids’ daycare. An email from the school confirmed this, and we had to notify our friends that we may have to bail on our lake house vacation if the health department deemed our kids at risk from close contact.
Minutes later, I was notified that one of the showings was interested and wanted to see our place again that morning. So, back into the car we went. I fed my kids Dunkin Donuts in a gas station parking lot and prayed that something would go right.
Hours later, we accepted an offer on our house! And just moments later, we received word that neither of our kids were exposed to the person who tested positive. It was 72 hours of complete whiplash. Our trip was back on. Our closing only had to get pushed a week. And best of all, our kids were healthy.