Short Sale, Part 7: Now we're gettin' somewhere (but not without a brief hiatus)

Everything, good or bad, happens for a reason.

Life doesn’t throw more at us than we’re capable of handling.

These are two of the world views I hold dear, and to which I credit my eternal optimism.  Some probably think I’m a little crazy, naive, or tend to oversimplify, but I argue that I’d have a nervous breakdown were I not continually looking for the positive in a bad situation.

As bad as I felt a few weeks ago after having received the news of my sale falling through, I was lucky to find a potential reason the very next day.  Many of you know my brother Mark.  Well, he called the next day to share the news that he and his wife Karen bought a new house approximately a mile from where I currently live.  Closing is tentatively set for the end of November, and they’ll need to move immediately after closing since they’ll be renting out their townhouse with the new tenants’ lease effective December 1.  Take into consideration that they have a 3 ½ year old, a 1 ½ year old, and a baby due in January, and you can imagine how crazy life must be for them.  I can’t help but wonder I’m meant to be there for them…

Another sign, also involving Mark and his family came a week later.  Though we’re certainly more than a mile apart I’m currently the closest family they have geographically, which is why I was the first call my sister-in-law made during an emergency.  I’d planned a nice quiet night at home, had just sit down to dinner & movie when the phone rang and she asked (in a very calm voice, mind you) if I could come over and stay with the kids because Mark wanted her to take him to the hospital.  It normally takes me about 25 minutes to get over there – on this occasion it took me 20, and would have been quicker had I not been stuck being people driving under the speed limit on two-lane roads.  Everything’s Ok, by the way - Mark had an appendectomy the next morning. 

One of the other major world views I hold is that life doesn’t throw more at us than we can handle.  We can choose to take on too much, but when the going gets tough and we’re working hard to manage it all, we’ll get through it partly because, I trust, it won’t hit us all at once.  Man, has that been true over the past few weeks!

The second example is a nice transition to my next view.  Over the past few weeks there have been emergencies resulting in hospitalizations for more than one family member (everyone is fine).  There have also been good events, like getting to see my sister a couple of times as she’s been in town.  There have been the inevitable, like work being completely nuts coupled with my trying to work ahead because I have a week off coming up – I’ve only left on time once in the past month, which is neither the regular expectation, nor the culture where I work.  Finally, there have been the slightly crazy times, like running Kindergruppe practice by myself, which though I’ve learned to manage like a champ can still be exhausting, especially when most of the group is there (a full group is around 60 kids). 

I think managing all of that in addition to having to worry about the final stages of a short sale (including finding a new place to live because the bank decides to accept an offer and make me move immediately), would have all been a bit much.  Since my condo got listed again, the most I’ve really had to worry about has been making sure the bed is always made in case a showing is scheduled while I’m not at home!

That last point leads me to some good news…a negotiator actually called me realtor yesterday and the two began talks.  Also, thanks to an absolute flurry of showing activity, I’m fortunate to have a new contract from a second buyer to replace the one that expired a few weeks ago.  While I’m sure this will still take some time as I’ve heard that there tend to be multiple rounds once a file is in negotiation, it’s back to moving in the right direction.  Hooray!