I headed out of town on pretty short notice for the weekend, up to visit my grandparents. I wish I could have spent a couple more days there…there are so many memories of vacations there… playing “pioneers” under the willows, starting the “Cove Country Cousins Club,” dressing up in the girls dorm. It’s always a place of reflection, of literary and politic discussion with my grandparents, of reminiscing of camping trips (my grandpa can tell some doozies. Although I could have done without all of the mice tales).

It was hard to say goodbye… knowing that it’ll be most likely a year before I see them again… a year when they are already getting older and frailer. They celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary while I was there. 58 years. I started to cry as I left. One more goodbye. One more uncertainty.

I had hoped to stay longer–two days was hardly enough time. But unfortunately, I had business back at home…contacting my bank, faxing contracts and bank statements, writing out checks, because…

I GOT MY HOUSE!

🙂 After a day and a half of bartering with (as Chris put it) persnickety sellers who refused to go down, we managed to reach a settlement that while it wasn’t the best, satisfied everybody. I still have to be approved for the loan, and the place gets inspected tomorrow, but hopefully, the place will close on the 23rd, ready for me to move in.

Wanna see pictures of it? Go here: http://jcd1013.lotrinklings.net/house/house.html. We visited it twice and in that time, the family had already moved out a lot of their belongings, so you can get a sense of what it will look like when I move in with my very meager belongings.

I’m very excited, even with all of the oh-so-fun paperwork. It’s going to be tight living for a while, but I think it’s worth it. I’m already planning out the guest room, to entice many many visits. 🙂