Twisting Turning Tenuous Track

making deals, packing boxes, and also picking lots and lots of strawberries

I have several drafts started and not finished since my last posting here, in which I left myself off the rails and in the dark. The month of May carried our family through some dramatic twists and turns —

On May 6, we accepted an offer on our house that was contingent on the sale of our buyer’s home. This meant they were bumpable, but with our agreement in place they put their house on the market and we watched and waited with hope for a quick sale for them so we could all get moving! however, the first weekend yielded no results and then midway through the next week, another offer came in to us that was not contingent on anything. We ultimately accepted this new offer May 16.

And this meant we could finally go shopping! There are not many options available in our target town that would work well for our multigenerational household, but David and I found a good one, which we had toured during an open house in late April. It was still available and we returned to see it a couple times now with our realtor. We made offer which was accepted on May 18, and we eagerly jumped straight into the many next details with our realtor, our lender, and most dangerously — we let ourselves imagine being moved at last!!

But also…..our buyer had been eerily silent since making the deal with us. And then on May 21, I got the bad news call from our realtor who said that the buyer had pulled out of the deal due to health reasons. In the screeching halt, I could feel train cars clunking into each other behind me. It was terribly quiet in our depths of What Now.

Obviously I’m leaning into the train imagery here - so…here’s what it’s like from life lived beside the tracks - sometimes after getting through all the clanging of the intersection crossing guard and the blaring of horns, a train will come to a full stop beside our property. The cars do not actually crash into each other, of course, but the mighty metal clunking of couplers as the trail comes to a stop is notable. And in the stillness that follows is sweet rest for my brain. Unless Rusty is around and then it sounds like this……

Yap Yap Yap into the quiet of something stopped where it shouldn’t be. This was sort of what it felt like while waiting through that afternoon and evening as our realtor returned to our first buyers to see if they were still interested. 😬

Thankfully, they were! We made a new deal which protected them from getting bumped for a couple weeks while they worked to sell their house, and graciously the seller of the house we are buying allowed a brief pause in our process.We spent that Friday and Saturday sorting through some really hard questions - what if this? what if this? what if that? And then on Saturday evening many of those questions were fabulously rendered unnecessary when our realtor called to say that our buyers had a buyer for their house!! what sweet relief in that news!!! The train couplers began clanging against each other and everything kicked back into gear.

This past week we sailed through the house inspection and appraisal of the house we are purchasing. We hope to get through that same process with our buyers and our current property soon as well. Assuming we manage to get through this and remaining hoops without derailing, we will be on track to close on both houses June 18, and move shortly after.

It’s been a lot. It remains a lot. It’s not just the logistics of moving people to new properties, but it’s caring for the particular people in our train car as we travel along this way together.

So here I am to say, on this first day of June, I hold tremendous hope for what is yet to come. And I hold it while keenly aware of the tremendous potential for a train wreck still ahead on this track. I pack boxes without confidence. And yet, I pack. And I dare to imagine being moved at last.

And if for some reason the whole thing falls apart, I may just throw it all in and become a strawberry farmer, over here beside the tracks.