Maybelline Hates Me For Not Investing

Where do I even start? My brain is in constant flux. And I admit that I spend half my time trying to pull my thoughts back together after one of my children has interrupted another tenuous try at two minutes uninterrupted time.

Even as I wrote that paragraph I was interrupted by three children, and answered four texts. My brain is slowly melting.

This is extremely aggravated by the fact that we are moving.

(Ah, two more children and one more text. It is no wonder that I haven't blogged in almost a month.)

Where was I? Oh yeah, moving. I guess this is a good time for that story, although I feel like I have told it a thousand times since every new person wants a rendition. I apologize if I have spoken with you and have left out many details. Or maybe you were on the other side and wanted me to shut my trap already. (Honestly, house details aren't that interesting.)

But let us rewind to where this all began. About 4.3 years ago, Tyler found a certain real estate site called 'Zillow'. I'm sure many of you are familiar with this site. He thought it was interesting that they not only listed houses for sale and others for rent, but you could list your house under a 'Make Me Move' price. The housing market was quite low at the time, so he put his 'Make Me Move' price out there and then it faded into the background as many things do.

Fast forward to last April. I will freely admit that we have been browsing the housing market, but somewhat sporadically. Zillow would send me updates if a house fell under my search criteria. Then one day, I get a different email from Zillow. It said someone was interested in my house. (Odd, I had just been thinking that I should ask Tyler to take our house off the site....after all, no one was ever going to bite....) The email stared at me, and I stared back. Then I picked up the phone and dialed up destiny. (Meaning the future...destiny wasn't her name.)

The couple on the other end asked if they could come see our house in two days. (They would be there for the weekend from Idaho.) I told her that sure, she could come see it, but it might be a waste of her time, because the house wasn't for sale. But they came anyway.

My neighbor's house went up for sale the next day, so I actually told this young couple that they should look at both houses. They did, and seemed to like ours more. And then they left. Tyler and I sat and talked about moving and if we would and what it all meant. We laughed and talked and then let it drop and we went back to browsing the listings.

A week before Memorial Day, we get a text saying, you mentioned that you might sell for less than the 'Make Me Move' price. What would that be, and when can you move?? Wow. Moving?? We didn't have anywhere to go. But we texted back and she asked if her sister could come look at the house. Sure, that would be okay. Her sister came and browsed our house. People are very different when it comes to looking at your home. Some stand back and take it all in. Others open every cupboard. It is a little surreal. Her sister seemed satisfied and then she immediately went next door and put an offer on my neighbor's home (which was still for sale).

That is when it hit me. This couple from Idaho wanted to buy our home. Her sister would be living next door. Her husband would work less than 3 miles away. I was going to have to find somewhere else to live.

They made an offer two days later. There was a lot of hemming and hawing. At one point, we almost backed out completely. But, we managed to strike a deal and the day after Memorial day, our house was under contract.

It is a bit of a blur. We have a rental to go to. But other than that, no great long term plans. Don't even get me started on the rental process. I alternate between wanting to cry and actually crying.

And glory be...do you know what I think often? You'll never guess, so I'll tell you. I am thankful for my fake eyelashes. Because I cry. Off and on. All the time. I think about leaving my friends around here. And cry. I think about my kids having to leave their friends. And cry. I think about leaving this school system. And cry. Church is a joke. It seemed everyone found out at once, and no one is happy to see us go. Just as I am not happy to be leaving. And I cry.

We have to be out by July 1st, but we'll be gone by June 29th really. We are speaking in church on the 23rd. I already know it is going to be a riot. How am I going to speak while I am crying? But thank goodness that I am not spending a fortune on waterproof mascara. (I've never liked the stuff. I can never get it off.)

I have a LOT of faith that things will work out for our family. But I admit that some days it is hard only seeing  a few steps in front of me. I don't know if I will suddenly see that this path is a dead end, and I need to turn around and start all over deciding which direction to travel. I always thought that I would have all the time in the world to live here. But perhaps these little birds (meaning us) were not learning to fly, so we got pushed out of the nest for our own good. Perhaps.

And in the end, I am content. Because I get to take the most important things with me. I have the best team ever. My husband and my girls keep me going. They rock. It makes me cry.

No surprise there.