20K and a Year Away

I feel like Frodo coming out of the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor. A huge weight is lifted and all of a sudden I can remember the taste of strawberries. It is amazing. I don’t actually enjoy strawberries, but it is good to remember that.

The closing took place on the 19th, 7 days later than it should have. The buyers paid some compensatory money for the delay, but that won’t cover the therapy bills. Kidding, I can remember strawberries. We’re good.

While the closing has been completed, the transfer of funds has not. According to the title company, it should be today or tomorrow. I have come to not believe the people who tell me dates and times when things will be happening. Did I tell you about what happened when I sold my car in Florida? Well, the car place said, “Your check will arrive in two weeks.” And I, like an idiot, said, “Ok, great. Thanks.”

Let me tell you, after the two weeks passed, I turned into a phone stalker. I left message after message to get some kind of response. It was ridiculous. No one called me back. No one. I finally got the finance manager on the line and he told me the title had not gotten to them yet and they could not send the check until it arrived. I asked how long that would be and he thought not much longer. Well… it took a lot longer. I ended up calling the Washington State DMV to see if and when the title was actually sent to Florida. It had not even been processed until the 12th of October, well after the two weeks they said.

So many scenarios played out in my brain – because makebelieve and over-exaggeration are my specialties when it comes to analyzing my own life – to the point where I just had to stop thinking about it and adopt a “well, that’s life” attitude. The check finally arrived and all that stress seemed like a waste of energy, but completely unavoidable.

As a quick update – as of ten minutes ago – I checked my bank info. My mortgage has been paid off, but the deposit to my account is not there… Here we go again. I wonder if the DMV can help with this one, too? I need to keep that “that’s life” attitude going…

We are in Bellingham with Lydia until the 1st of December. She is off after today and can spend a lot of time visiting. It is sad to only see her every so often. It is good that she is doing the adult thing, but it is a bittersweet thing. Pretty soon, both girls will be off being adults and we will need to make sure we find time to meet up wherever we can. Maybe after they live a little, they can join this adventure.

Update 11/26: We are done! The new phase has officially begun.