The Next Chapter

The short-sale of my home is nearly complete, and just this week I scheduled the movers. What a long, harrowing process it was – every piece of paper you’ve ever received must be turned over to the bank, then they lose all of the information when they upgrade their computer system, and you have to start all over again. Or at least that’s what happened to us. But now, a closing date! July 29, the date we hand over our keys. Which means we have to be out of our home by July 27. Which will be interesting, because for two weeks in the middle of July, we also have to be on the east coast for our annual visit to David’s parents at the time of his gallery show there. As my friend Jen would say, Huh.

I’m looking forward to being “on the other side,” as David calls it. We’ve been slowly packing and selling our things — large furniture items that won’t fit into our new place. I think David was more sentimental about seeing my desk go than I was. But the purge of the junk collected in bathroom and kitchen cabinets and drawers has been cathartic, and the pain of this six-month long situation has gradually been replaced by excitement for the next chapter. The closer we get to it, the less sad we are to have lost one home, and the happier we are about the adventure of creating a new home.

Yesterday we did the furniture-store loop, as we need to replace our large, bulky items with sleeker, more efficient pieces. We started at IKEA, then perused West Elm, and eventually stopped by Hold It, all located conveniently within a few miles of each other in Mission Valley.

By the third store, David and I were holding hands and smiling, and I had a giddy feeling in my stomach. “It’s like we get to move in together for the first time all over again,” I said. He leaned over and kissed me, and for the first time in a long time, all my worries faded away.