The Unexpected

One of my worst fears was realized yesterday as I was informed that our house has been sold. Even though I knew it was a possibility that it could happen, I never really thought that anyone would buy our house as it stands now. As much as I love the house, I'm not blind; it has an enormous amount of problems that need addressed. In the end, the house was bought by our neighbors for just $4,500 or so more than my parents paid for the house in 1982, so in effect they paid far less than we did even back then. As it stands now, we have to be out of the house by May 15th, which is the day before I graduate. So, even though I only have two weeks of student teaching, I now have the added stress of packing the house up and figuring out what to get rid of.

I'm currently in Laurel, Maryland on Spring Break visiting my brother Andy and sister in law Heather. They got their own bad news yesterday that Heather's grandpa had passed away, though it was hardly unexpected as he had been very ill for some time. Today they are going to a funeral in Harrisonburg, Virgina (about 2.5 hours from here) and then tomorrow they have another one in this area (Silver Spring, Maryland). I considered going since I do know Heather's family (pretty much just from the wedding) and I am here, but decided to go to the service tomorrow so I don't crowd the car ride to Harrisonburg today and so the family can gather together. I am looking forward to seeing them again, though am disappointed I won't get to do the things I had planned for today with Andy and Heather, namely a trip to the Baltimore Visionary Art museum and an Orioles-Yankees game at Camden Yards.

As for the house, though, yesterday was difficult and I'm still adjusting to it. It feels like someone died almost. As I mentioned above, it was bought by our neighbors. My dad sent an e-mail out with some more details about everything and stated he was told "they are very sensitive to the situation and are afraid of a confrontation - by who I don't know - but they understand why the house is being sold and the situation that puts [my mom], Jon and Katie in." Personally, even if they said that I think it's a pile of BS because not once did they ever stop over and speak to us about the situation or see what we were planning on doing if the house was sold or actually foreclosed on. No, the only thing they know is whatever the realtor told them. And the whole confrontation thing? Are they serious?!? Gee, I don't know WHY we'd be upset they we're losing our house of 26 FREAKIN years and have to have our lives completely turned upside down and get to go "stay" at the grandparents house for who knows how long. It shows how much they know us...which is very little. We've lived next door for like 15 years or so and they don't even know how we'd react. I don't blame them for buying the house, but to say I don't feel somewhat betrayed isn't true either, especially in light of how no one really came to talk to us about the situation; they just swooped in and took full advantage.

As I stated to my mom and my brother and I talked about, the house is sold "as is" meaning we will be taking EVERYTHING of value, including any improvements made to the house that we own, like the garage door opener, the motion detector lights, etc. I also made it clear we are not doing them ANY favors in terms of cleaning the house and to be quite honest, I won't be doing ANY yardwork no matter how much the yard grows before May 15. Why should I spend any money on gas to run the mower for something that is being taken-- ripped-- away from me? So I hope they enjoy our meadow until then!

What's next isn't much of a joy either. I hate moving, but have never actually had to move an entire house. I've only done little apartment moves when I went on my mission and to BYU-Idaho each year. At this point, I will probably move in with my Ridinger grandparents since they have more room. My mom will go to my Derby grandparents. Not sure where Katie will go, though she had plans to move out anyway, just not this soon. While living with the grandparents is certainly not the worst aspect of this, it will be largely inconvenient, so getting a job so I can get a place of my own is now completely paramount. As I mentioned when this whole soap opera started, I won't be "living" with them, I will be "staying" with them. It's their house, not mine, so I will be an extended guest for the most part. Now WHERE I end up remains to be seen as well. I love Kent and have a lot of roots there, but now that the house is gone, one of the biggest roots is gone. I don't know how much I could take being in Kent but not being able to go "home." So leaving Kent has become a much larger possibility, all depending on where I can get a job, whether it be in teaching or not. And I don't even want to THINK about how lame holidays are going to be now. Ugh. If I'm still not in my own place by Christmas heaven help me!