So. In less than 4 weeks, I will be getting married. For that part to have a start that goes swimmingly well, there needs to be a place to reside. Less than 6 days ago, Jill and I closed on our new home. This is what this post is all about.
Last Tuesday, we met with the seller and the closing company to sign a forest's worth of papers (and people are concerned about the Amazon?) to get the keys to the kingdom, as I liked to phrase it, and become the proud new owners of a flipped 60-year-old house. A house to call home. Knowing that we were closing that evening, we filled our two vehicles full of boxes and items that were to be the initial wave of incoming goods to turn the empty house into a place to feel warm and welcome, if not wealthy (most defintely not that!). These things included non-perishable foodstuffs, cleaning supplies, bathroom supplies, and one lamp. The closing took place in the evening, and after it was done, we went to dinner with my folks in the form of a celebration.
Once we got to the house (after 9pm), Jill got to work on the bathroom and floors. I forgot what I was doing. I remember attempting to work on cleaning out the pantry, but the wooden slat boards had flaking paint and were starting to bow from age. I decided we would have to buy some wood to make new shelves for the pantry. We set aside one of the bedrooms as the initial storage of moved-in boxes. I unpacked the boxes I had brought, since I was going to refill them the next day for the next wave. We got done around 1am and headed to her house to put a dining room table and four chairs in my car for the next day.
The next 4 days go by following a variation of the theme: pack, unpack, clean, shop for things we need. All days start early (due to work, with the exception of Friday, which is early due to applying for the marriage license) and end after midnight at the new house. There are a few events that are smattered here and there; a wedding shower, an engagement photo session. Each passing early morning, I get less and less sleep.
Saturday morning, my body and brain had had enough. The alarm goes off, I hop right out of bed, and it's just nothing but muttering and forgetting hard-to-forget details whilst getting ready for work and yet another evening unpacking and cleaning. I already knew that I would have to drive back to my parents' house to get some more stuff, possibly twice in one evening. My mother, being my mother and thus attuned to my moods and their variating severities, stopped me on the way out the door to pray with me, asking God to encourage and strengthen me and to give me endurance and patience with the things I was dealing with.
And it worked. Instead of falling asleep at the wheel or nodding off in the middle of work or seeing my dreams come visit me in the waking world, I actually had an amount of energy that kept me alert and on my feet but was still low enough that I wasn't going to full anyone into thinking I wasn't tired. When I got back to Freedom that evening to pack the dresser and some items that would make my first night (and following morning) seem somewhat normal, such as deodorant, shaving implements, shoes, clothes hangers, clocks, etc., my parents pretty much decided to use their Expedition to bring my bookshelves and other objects that very same night.
It was on the spur of the moment, but I knew I was in no position to turn them down, despite Jill and I wanting our parents to see the place after it had been cleaned up and properly organized. Once at the house, dad got to work on some maintenance issues and mom got to work cleaning. It was after their bedtime, but they were eagerly into the swing of things! They get a kick out of helping out around the house, and this house was a new house (to them) and I think gave them a bit of energy at doing some basic maintenance to a place that was new to them instead of doing renovation work to a place (their house) that was old to them.
And we're grateful to them for it! Their help enabled us to be able to take a more leisurely pace on Sunday before her family came over for a Mother's Day brunch of belgian waffles, bacon, and strawberries. The linen closet and kitchen cabinets finally got wiped down properly; kitchen utensils, tableware, and pots and pans started finding their homes. For dinner, my parents came over for a Mother's Day dinner of salad, fresh-baked bread, and a shrimp liguine meal capped with chocolate cupcakes.
And that's where we stand. The new house is slowly turning into home, which, to me, won't happen properly until Jill and I are married; then all the aspects of home will be in the house.
I suspect I'll be posting a few more (maybe shorter) entries about the progress from house to home. With the moving having taken a more leisurely pace, there will probably be more time for just that!
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