Catastrophe Strikes

Above is the living room of my new digs with someone else's furniture. Call off the movers. The other's mortgage seems to have fallen through. At the last minute of the day I had to decide whether I should let them take my stuff and put it in storage or live in the labyrinth of boxes and newsprint for the indeterminate future. I was advised to call off the movers because it could be weeks. Or we might have to put the house on the market and wait months before someone is interested. This just gives me more time to pack. I needed a little more time.

A friend wrote to remind me that moving is on that top 5 list of stresses along with death (lost 2 family members this year), divorce (yup, working on that), and public speaking. (see Brini and Me). Well, let's throw into this mix that the refrigerator decided to turn into a freezer in the last two days. Things have actually blown up in there. All the fruit, the vegetables, water, water dispenser, everything is frozen. It is also completely full.

Now add on to that, the strong possibility that we will have hurricane force winds and rain starting tomorrow night and I need to bring the deck furniture into a house that one can't turn around in and I think I have a mighty fine weekend staring me in the face. There was a time when weekends used to be fun. That seems to have disappeared around 8 years ago and I hope it changes as soon as I get off this island. Okay, I'm not leaving the island, but you catch my drift.

I have to work really hard to not look at other real estate. I am obsessed with real estate. In fact, you might say I'm addicted to it. I'm always on the prowl. The grass is always greener... I have been trying to look at this purchase in a very pragmatic way: what are my needs, what can I afford, how important is a view, will I be happy 5 or 10 years from now, will it increase in value given that I'm buying in a buyer's market, is it the house of my dreams. To answer these questions, I can say, it's not the house of my dreams, it probably won't increase much in value, I think I will be happy in it 5 or 10 years from now, it has lovely views--not the views I currently enjoy--but I'm blessed to live at the beach! How many people can do that full time? I can afford it because it's cheaper than what I'm paying now. It meets my needs. The short list of pros and cons. And it's in my favorite area of the Outer Cape. I need to center on this house. The house that will be a comfortable dwelling for the foreseeable future.

Now if I can move. I canceled the movers. I canceled tv, internet and telephone service today. Am I more bitter than I was 6 months ago? Perhaps.