I keep saying I am going to write about all of the things going on in Graceland. No time like the present I guess.
When life becomes overwhelming I try to compartmentalize everything and address things by their order of importance. It usually works for me but the problem is I have a long list of important things to deal with these days. Everything seems to need to be done now. I have to keep reminding myself to breathe.
My mom is going to be released from the hospital in a few days so we are working overtime to find suitable living arrangements. I toured a senior home yesterday which was totally surreal. It was very nice and is close by so we could visit regularly. Still, walking the halls of a nursing home and seeing all of the very frail elderly people made me sad.
It’s hard to fully acknowledge my parents have reached this point in their lives which is strange considering I really am quite used to having old parents. They adopted me when they were in their late 40’s. Due to the constant snarky comments from my childhood friends I naturally came to think of them as old at a very young age, so I can’t even really understand why this is so difficult for me. When you are 7, 8, 9 years old the 50’s seem ancient. My mom has always had gray hair too which only served to accentuate her “oldness” and the comments from my friends really were relentless. I got used to the comments and became quite proficient at defending my parents on a regular basis. Thinking back on this actually makes me laugh as I am now just 10 years from ancient myself (lol) which I guess means my parents have transitioned from ancient to archaic?
When we moved here to be closer to my parents we decided to rent until we were sure this was the area we wanted to live. As it turns out we fell in love with this home. We have done an insane amount of work to the place too, tile, paint gardens etc… It’s a VERY nice house in a wonderful neighborhood. The housing market absolutely skyrocketed since we moved in (as in doubled). That coupled with all of the improvements we have done has prompted our ever practical Amish landlord to sell before the market completely tanks. Smart business people the Amish. The PROBLEM is this house is now completely OUT of our budget or we would just buy it ourselves. There is no way we can afford to buy our beloved home we have lived in for almost 4 years. So we are now in the process of securing a mtg. loan (providing daily; statements, referrals, tax records, firstborn etc…) and are looking at properties. We probably won’t be able to buy in this immediate neighborhood but we are looking to get someplace close by. It means a change of school districts which absolutely sucks for my teenage son. Fortunately though he has friends in the neighboring district so he won’t totally be the new guy. And I swore I would never move my teenage kids around. Sigh….
We found an old farmhouse that we really love. When I say it’s a diamond in the rough I am being extremely descriptively gentle. It needs a LOOOTTTTTT of work. Once the approval goes through and we are sure we will be buying it I will post pictures. I suspect most people will think we are completely nuts for even considering it. It has charm like you wouldn’t believe but every. single. surface. requires work. From the chipping lead paint on the woodwork to squirrels living in the attic this baby is screaming for love.
Note to Self; Find a way to befriend Bob Vila.
Our house goes on the market next week which means I will soon have strangers traipsing through my house on any given day. Have I mentioned I have four kids? *#%$&* U.G.H. I am working on packing as much as I can. The more stuff that is packed the less I have to pick up.
We had a family vacation planned to Florida in July which has been planned for a year. Looks like that will have to be scrapped. I have NOT told the kids yet. Still hoping for a miracle. I could really use a vacation and so could they. But the worst of it is I can’t seem to find a way to get to New Orleans for the Adoptee Rights Demonstration. THAT is bothering me a lot. I haven’t canceled my room yet even though I know deep down I need to. I keep looking at the reservation confirmation sitting on my desk like at any moment it will jump up and make itself doable. I want to be there more than anything. I know, I know… where there is a will there is a way but my will and I seem to be playing a nasty game of hide and seek these days.
The good part about all of the madness that is my life right now is it has left very little time to ponder the recent breakdown I had regarding E’s letter. I am way too busy to deal with that. She is nothing more than a quick chug of Mylanta to me at the moment.
So there you have it. My uber gigantor plate of swiss cheese. As you can imagine I am drinking the wine whine straight out of the bottle. I always remove the paper bag though. I remain steadfast in my determination to keep SOME standards!
Cheers!
3 Comments
June 10, 2008 at 2:21 pm
good lord woman. that is a lot to deal with. sounds like my life the past year (divorce, house sale, moving, new job).
good luck with the house hunting. i love looking at homes and i so want to see the picture of the old farmhouse. i love hold homes. such charm and character. my current rental in a three flat was built in the early 1900s. it is darling – crooked floors, plaster walls and all.
though I do dream of a big old warehouse loft…tis a future dream.
hugs.
June 11, 2008 at 2:54 am
Ugh, Mia. That’s way too much!!!
On a positive note, it sounds like you are just the right people to pour some love into that home that needs it so much.
But ugh.
June 12, 2008 at 11:35 am
Oh Mia I read this two days ago when you first wrote it have been thinking of this ever since. This is all so much to deal with at one time.
And seriously, the worst of it most certainly is not missing the ARD, there will be more ARDs, the one next year is in Philly which is much closer and has far better cheesesteaks than New Orleans does. Please don’t stress over that.
And our house was a diamond in the rough too. When we bought it, we were both so broke it was the only house here we could afford. The low price was for a reason – I think it was one step up from being condemned. But you learn to live with a certain *cough*cough* charm, shall we say, and then before you know it, the kids are grown, the house is renovated, and you look back and say, can you believe we lived with those damn squirrels in the attic for so long?
Hugs and hugs and hugs. You’ve got a lot going on, so you need some extra hugs.
hugshugshugshugshugs