Well, then late last year the economy tanked and we just assumed that our house price had tanked with it, and that we would have to wait now until prices went back up again - maybe a wait of several years.
A couple of months ago, I was talking with some girl friends who were looking for houses and discovered that Chapel Hill prices had not dropped. At all. Turns out people are still buying in this area, and still paying to live close to the university, and in the Chapel Hill school district. Even though our address says "Hillsborough" our house is the very last one on our rural road to be included in the Chapel Hill school district - and that is a distinct advantage.
So we called in a real estate agent - a lovely woman whom Paul has known for years - and she confirmed that yes, now is a good time to sell. But...we would need to clear the clutter and clear it soon so that it could go on the market for spring and summer - prime selling time. Whoa!
Those of you know us and our home know that we did indeed have a considerable amount of clutter. Stuff. We set to work. We gave away. We advertised on craigslist. We bartered (for instance "our canoe for your landscaping"). We trashed. We boxed up and stored. We cleaned. We rearranged.
We focused on that for 8 whole, long weeks. And mostly kept our sanity and sense of humor. (Well, mine wore a bit thin sometimes, but I did try.) In the midst of that two other things were happening.
Paul had started back in his chiropractic/acupuncture work in December and so is in the midst of building up that practice. He's doing wonderfully - giving workshops, seeing new patients every week, and just flourishing in it.
And my 91 year old dear dear Uncle Norb who is still sharp and witty, and only just relinquished his drivers licence last year, has been diagnosed with esophagus cancer and is not pursuing aggressive treatment of any kind. So the doctors say he can expect another 3-7 months. He's in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I came up for a week in April when he ended up in ER three times, and so it was the perfect time for me to be here with him. Now his 3 children (who also live in other states) and I have worked out a schedule so that one of us will always be here. He wants to stay in his home for as long as he can and we will do what we can to make that happen. The good news is that he is not in pain or any discomfort at this point - just tired. We talk about his dying. And cry. But he says he has lived a good life and a long life and he is desperately lonely since Dolores died a year ago.
Anyway, back to the house...We finally called the real estate agent back this week and she pronounced it marvellous. We signed the papers to put it on the market and within 3 days we had the first people come to look! We are excited as we look forward to the next phase of our lives which, at this point, is not certain at all! We have been so focused on clearing up the house and land that we have not really started looking for our next home. We may end up renting for a bit, while we look. Or build.
Oh, the other thing is that our last child (well, Paul's really, but we share!), Nataw, moved into her first apartment last weekend. She made us proud as she did everything on her own - went to look at places, signed papers, made countless phone calls. And she is, of course, thrilled with her new abode. We miss her cheerful sweet presence, but are also enjoying just being the two of us for the first time.
Hmm. So that's about it.
We are planning to throw one final party in our home before we leave it, and will let you all know when we fix a date.
