Should I have gone with my gut?
We set a closing date. Middle of April if I remember right, and told our landlord we would be moving at the end of the month. Surely by then our tenant would be out right? He had known since last August the place was for sale and people would be moving in.
I remember the day like it was yesterday. Sitting in the conference room looking across at our lawyer and the lawyer representing the seller. Somehow I knew. I knew it wasn't going to work out. They handed the paperwork over to me to sign, and as I did, the tears fell down on to the paper and smudged the ink. Our lawyer could clearly sense I was upset so after it was finalized he stayed to give us some words of advice. He said, "Don't wait. Start the legal process now."
But we waited. You see, I wasn't the only person involved in buying this apartment. The other, was more optimistic than I. So we gave him some time, too much time.
Meanwhile our move out date was fast approaching and we were no where near getting into our place. Dozens of phone calls were made to, lets call him, Mr. Wrong. Sometimes he answered, sometimes he didn't. Each time he did answer he said he was looking for a place and had a few leads. This same conversation happened each week over the course of the next month or so.
We packed up all of our stuff, including 2 suitcases and left our cozy apartment. Little did we know how valuable something like privacy would become, unfortunately we realized all to quickly . Riches offered to let us store our stuff in their pseudo basement, the Romneys let us crash on their floor, and the Cliftons took our dog, while we straightened things out for the next couple weeks. We still didn't have any progress after the two weeks was up, so we then moved ourselves to the Riches futon for a week. Work wasn't going so well for me at the time, I had just switched stores and I wasn't as welcomed as I was in previous locations, so being around Katie gave me daydreams of being a mother. "Coincidentally" those wishes came true, although we are not sure when, or where, they did. Although I wasn't aware of it at that point.
After that week, we stayed at Dom and Katie Moore's house for the weekend, then moved over to the Butler's house for a week. The Butler's were going out of town and needed someone to dog sit and take care of their house. We jumped at the chance for some space. Next we moved to the Cliftons for a couple weeks where we met back up with our dog. She was already at this point starting forget me and preferred hanging out with Sara and Rusty than me. It broke my heart.
One afternoon while hanging out on their couch I turned on The View. I don't remember what those crazy ladies were talking about but all I remember is I started crying, no bawling. I knew it wasn't a good sign and by that point we had changed our minds about wanting a baby. I mean come on, wake up Beans, you are homeless. I ran our to the drugstore and took the test. Yes, two pink lines appeared. I called Tom crying. What were we going to do? What if we didn't get in our apartment, would I have to move home? A million scenarios went through my head, none too comforting.
During all of this believe me, it did occur to me that maybe we should rent an apartment. But you see, we were paying a mortgage, and maintenance fees, none of which we were being reimbursed from our tenant. We couldn't afford another $1500 in rent on top of what we were already paying. In the end it might have actually saved us money being we had to eat out every meal and pay for a cab every time we moved houses. But we didn't think long term at that point. We were still thinking short term. Surely he would find a place soon. I mean, it had been almost two months already.
Thursday, August 9, 2007 at 9:29AM
Reader Comments (3)
Sounds hellish and you seriously have me in suspense. Can't wait until the next post.
Seriously, I am so engrossed with this story as each chapter unfolds. I can't believe the odds you were up against. I hope there is a happy ending...
I also hope there is a happy ending with your story about the dress. I am anxious to see what you come up with. I should not be let near that website because I found several dresses I love there too--but not on markdown...
Wow. That kind of brought a little tear to my eye. I'm sure it was just because of the dust in the air... I'm just so thankful that you have had such wonderful friends who opened up their homes while you were paying for your home while MR WRONG sat in it with all his clutter.