In honor of finally finishing the task of sorting through Mom’s mementos and cleaning my ENTIRE house, I thought I would share a book excerpt from the last time I felt this accomplished. Sorting through old letters, pictures and treasures of my parents and grandparents was beyond nostalgic. It was enlightening. I am born of their love; a legacy of their lives. Reading letters written by ancestors that I had never met, gone half a century before I was born, was powerful. The boxes have now been carefully gone through and somewhat sorted, but it will still take another 100 hours of work to record the history they contain. Until I have time for that task, they will sit neatly in a closet holding on to their love stories, heartache and secrets.
Six weeks and a million man hours after Mom’s passing, the house was on the market. Stone work was repaired, leaks fixed, paint touched up, the entire house power washed, the basement painted with a waterproof sealer (two coats), and virtually everything but a few pieces of “staging” furniture emptied from the house. It was epic. It was exhausting. It was finished.
| May 6 Me: Also I faced my fears of being murdered in the basement. I painted without incident Sharon: You are amazing. Me: Are you amazed that it is possible to paint in the basement without someone coming in and murdering you? Because I was. Who knew! |
| May 15 Me: There is nothing more ironic than the listing calling mom’s house immaculate and well maintained. |
| May 26
Me: Mom’s bleeding hearts have bloomed. Ironic, as it was her bleeding heart that got us in this financial situation in the first place. |
Mom’s house sold quickly. We took one of the first offers we received, even though it was low. We figured that every month we didn’t close was that much more we’d spend, so a few more months might bring a higher offer, but it’d all be erased by the expenses. While I’d bought and sold a few houses, neither Eric or Sharon had done so. Eric was the executor of the will and the person tasked with handling this dog and pony show. I hadn’t even considered how many things he wasn’t familiar with, so we talked a lot through the process. Yes, a lawyer is standard. Yes, the counter offer really does come with a ridiculously long list of things the buyer wants you to fix even if you list it as is. Yes, the basic inspection things do need to be made and certified before you can sell. It’s really a lot of back and forth and stress, even if you know what to expect. And while the closing didn’t happen as planned on July 1 (although we were totally ready) it did happen that week. In just 3 ½ months we had managed to completely clear out and sell Mom’s estate. (Okay, disclaimer, I still have half a dozen or more boxes of things in my house to sort through, mostly pictures and mementos of sorts that we didn’t have time to sort, but weren’t ready to dump. I keep saying, “This summer,” but I’ve never mustered the energy to go back to them. Maybe this summer. )
| July 5 Me: I’m reading a book where a guy’s brother and sister-in-law die. He rides two days to get to them, settles the estate and settles their kids into his sister’s home and rides two days home. He accomplished this in just under a week. Obviously this is fiction. |
| July 7 Eric: I wonder if we should’ve disclosed that she might haunt the house. Wandering the halls, wondering where her stuff is. Sharon; Don’t forget pooping in the hall.Nah. Let him figure that out for himself. Our parting gift.Eric: Barbara’s going to wake up one night to hearing her neighbor yell “where is all this poop coming from?!?!” |