Our house?

I’ve been on quite a journey for the last 9 months. In the middle of January, I was so lonely. I’d been widowed almost 5 months, and I felt as though I had proved to myself, and whoever else might have been keeping score, that I had proved that I could “do it” on my own. I was managing the solo-parenting, I was managing the grief, but I was bone-deep lonely. I started looking around on Lavalife, just to see what (who) was “out there”.

Pretty quickly, I saw that if I wanted to find someone to hang out with while I was hanging out with the kids, I would need to put up a profile. I was surprised with how much interest there was in a recently widowed woman with two small kids, but I guess there are men who have been sufficiently bruised by life’s turbulence that they are not total “DGI’s”. (Don’t Get It)

Rob and I met in person after a few days of corresponding through the site, with all four kids in tow, on February 4th. A few more days of lengthy phone calls late into the night, and we were truly “hooked” on each other. In the magical haze of new love, we made plans to join our lives and families as soon as possible.

Getting Rob’s house ready to sell took him about 5 months; it has been on the market for two-and-a-half months. In the time it has been on the market, we have received 5 offers on the place. Offer #1, a few days after listing, was insultingly low. Offer #2, two months after listing, was even lower. The counter-offer (offer 2b) was still lower than offer #1. Offer #3 was adequate, and we accepted it. The home inspector for these purchasers found what he reported as several problem areas- unfortunately, he failed to note that the upgrades that Rob has completed on the place actually corrected these problems, and turned them into assets, but the damage was done and the offer was withdrawn.

Offer #4 was made by the same folks who put in offers number 2 and 2b: offer #4 was LOWER than offer #2B- wtf??? We already knew they were prepared to pay more. Fortunately, at the eleventh hour, as Rob and I were deciding to move into his house for the winter, offer #5 came in at list price, which we accepted with alacrity. What a ride to get to a place where we could consider doing some serious house shopping of our own! Although the contract on the accepted offer is to be finalized on Wednesday (the day after my birthday), we think this one is going to be fine.

So….

We went house-hunting on date night, and we found a house we love. We went again in daylight to see it today, with all four kids, and our very tolerant realtor. We put in an offer, which the realtor is presenting RIGHT NOW, at this minute. By the time you finish reading this, we may know whether we got the house….