That long wait? It's over.

[gerisullivan]

Seven long months (going on 8!) and one failed sale after my sister Sue put Daddy's house on the market, the end came super fast. Cash offer and negotiations last week; offer accepted last Thursday, closing 2.5 hours ago. Ten days from the first word an offer would be coming to close. Yowser.

So, yes, today turned out to be a good day to sell a very special house. A house made of memory and stone, a house unearthered and reclaimed from the "warehouse" it became while Daddy aged and comfortably lived out his 88-year-long life there, being himself and keeping it a home where his children could always do likewise. A house, garage, yard, and garden that will be forever in our hearts, forever be the home of our childhood and the safe haven that was so vitally, crucially important to our father to provide for us all his life long.

It was a good day, a smooth day, to lovingly say "farewell"...and gladly say "good riddance!" to the utility bills, taxes, insurance, maintenance concerns, and other burdens of keeping it going until it found its new family.

Full-spectrum emotion, you bet. How could it be anything else these 56 years later?

Fare thee well, 22 Grand Boulevard. Thanks to you, I know how to spell "Boulevard"! Thanks to you, and to the Fitzgerald family who lived there for so long, I have a lifelong love of rocks. The sound of your back screen door falling shut lives on in my hindbrain, just above my nape. It's funny how that sound has such a specific location, and how Mom or Daddy hollering "Don't slam the door!" is right there with it. :-)

Fare thee well, 22 Grand Boulevard, home to so many memories, home of so much love, and, yes, some anguish, too. Such is life, and the love always shone through. I'm glad you're now home to a new family, to a 5-year-old little boy who may spend the rest of his childhood playing on the porch, learning to love every rock along with which ones will balance a marble without it rolling off. May he enjoy camping out in the backyard in a tent, or in the upstairs hall with a tent made from a card table draped with blankets. Or, more precisely, may he enjoy discovering all the things he grows to treasure at 22 Grand Boulevard. May it be a home of safety, love, and joy that he remembers all of his life long.

Friday, May 31, 2013. Wow. So long anticipated. So slow in coming. Then, suddenly, whoosh! Daddy would be oh, so relieved. Relieved and amazed at everything that went into getting 22 Grand Boulevard to this point.

Onward.

Comments

[guppiecat]

How are the cats?

(Only peripherally related, but I was curious.)

[parsleigh.livejournal.com]

Make sure you stop by and visit it some time. We drive by my parents house every once in a while to see what the new owners are doing. My sister even took her kids trick or treating on the street and was shown some of the changes inside. It is nice to know that good people are living in a beloved house.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

Wow. And today's the day we move into our new house!

Here's to timely endings and new beginnings.

And *hugs*.
Always those.

[cowfan.livejournal.com]

A fine tribute to a house (and the family it sheltered). I'm glad it all went smoothly. BTW, a local comic in the Strib (Violet Days) mentioned the Brimfield Antique sales and I thought of you and our visit last year.

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

Hooray! That's a huge relief then.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Congratulations, and may the memories continue to be green.

(Meanwhile, we continue to wait for word on the settlement of my father-in-law's estate, which we hope will provide us with the resources we need to do things like fix the plumbing, get hot water, a working kitchen, and such. Oh, and maybe pay my mother back for the loan she made me from what she thought might be her deathbed that allowed us to close the gap between our original purchase price and what we ended up having to pay.)

selling the house

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

It's a necessary task which generates a lot of mixed feelings. I'm pleased that it went well for you.

Ah, the word boulevard. I remember long arguments in childhood over whether the abbreviation Blvd. was pronounced "bullv'd" or "blivid".

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Fare thee well, 22 Grand Boulevard, though I never met you.

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

For here it looks like it's been quite a ride. I'm glad it has come to a satisfactory conclusion.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

It's definitely related. The cats are comfortably settled and happy, but not particularly healthy. Tillie has turned into Not-So-Little Miss Pudgepot, going from 10.x# to 14.38# in the last 19 months. Alas, the weight she's put on seems to have come directly off Jinx, and more. She's gone from 14.2# to 8.8#. Yikes. It's been coming off very slowly, not suddenly. I'm trying a couple of things at the vet's direction for the next few weeks, then we'll weigh her again and see where things stand.

There's enough current news and adventures on the cat health and behavior front that I'll post about it soon.

w00t!

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

WooT!

[kaffy_r]

Congratulations on the sale, and thank you for your sense-heavy and beautiful thank you to and remembrance of your home. And I'm so pleased that it has passed to another family that could come to love it as you did.

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

Tough to say the final goodbye but glad things worked out without another long drawn-out mess. Take care.

[threeringedmoon.livejournal.com]

Great news.

[maruad.livejournal.com]

I am happy the sale has gone through.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Timing!

Welcome to your new home. Too bad you didn't need a house in Battle Creek. :-)

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

Congratulations for having grown up in a wonderful home!

(The buyers paid cash for your old home? I'm asking because under the Patriot Act that's not allowed since that could be used to launder money.)

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

In this situation, a cash offer means the buyer has the money to pay for the house and doesn't need to obtain a mortgage in order for the sale to go through. Even without the Patriot Act, it's most likely the buyer would have presented payment in the form of a Cashier's Check rather than cash itself.

[thirdworld.livejournal.com]

Congratulations... and commiserations. Here's to that little boy and to the cycle of joy.

[thinkum]

HURRAH!!!!

[apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com]

I like happy endings.