so the original plan was for lori and i to spend the week in roanoke helping mom and dad pack and get settled into their new house, and to have beth and james join us all for a celebration party on friday night. well, if you know any of us you know this – things never go according to plan. however, i have also learned this – in the end – no matter how difficult the struggle was, we will come out better on the other side.
mom and dad got a really great deal on the home of their dreams. they put in the offer while will and i were in the bahamas. according to the first contract (prior to amendments) they were going to close on october 5th. however, they found out shortly after the offer was accepted that the fella who currently owns the home filed for bankruptcy. since the home had a contract, the bankruptcy judge allowed the sale to go through, but because some corrections needed to be made to the home prior to closing the house was now tied up with the seller’s court hearings. this pushed closing back to the 9th. however, with court on the 8th, we found out that the fella had an undisclosed lien on the property that had to be rectified at next month’s bankruptcy hearing, thus pushing the closing back at least another 30 days… we are now looking at thanksgiving.
mom and dad are resilient and bounce back like nobody’s business, but this was just a little much. sometimes timing is everything, and this was just bad timing. mom gets really busy with the store around the holidays and knows that moving during the holidays is just not ideal. however, that being said – we reassured her that if we have to unpack boxes and decorate the tree on christmas, this is what we will do. afterall, we are all taylors (deep down), and we will get it done! so – in true taylor fashion we spent the week rolling with the punches. lori and i ran a billion errands for mom and dad and helped them get lots of furniture ordered for their new place. lori and i both felt like we had a new friend (Scott) at Grand Piano. I am sure he would run the other way if he saw us come through the doors ever again! we visited the store three days in a row at the first of the week, and were so happy when the final purchase was made! everyone is really happy with the furniture picks and we know it is all going to look great in the new place! we also helped mom get fabric picked out for her wingback chairs in the sitting room. this was a task, since the fabric had to blend with an antique oriental rug and also pair nicely with their new open concept floorplan – however, we figured it all out and got the fabric ordered and ready to go! sadness set in with lori and i when the reality of the packing actually set in. we went through old memories in our dresser drawers and boxed up old trinkets, trying to clear out our rooms. both of us knew this was the last time that we would be together staying in this house, our childhood home, with our parents.
the three sisters are so grateful to have had such wonderful childhoods filled with tons of memories based in our home at 51 Lois Lane (formerly known as Rural Route 3 BOX 150, and 4061 Lois Lane). we compiled a sampling of those memories into a book we entitled “51 memories on 51 lois lane” as a coffee table book for mom and dad in their new house. we really could never completely compile a complete list of fond memories of our childhoods because, as we grow older, we become evermore aware of the fact that nobody had as good of a childhood as we had. we have, without a doubt, the world’s best parents. (which is why the bad news of the delayed closing was hurtful for all of us, just knowing how excited they were to get into the new place.)
our basket of goodies that was intended to be opened at the new home celebration ended up being opened in the living room at 51 lois lane. we threw in an extra present of the sugarland cd so that mom and dad could find comfort in knowing that “..it happens”! we all danced and sang rounds of the song knowing that sometimes the reality of the situation is just a little too much when you have to chime in with:
“Now it is poor me, why me, oh me
Boring the same old worn out blah blah story
There is no good explanation for it at all
Ain’t no rhyme or reason
No complicated meaning
Ain’t no need to over think it
Let go laughing
Life don’t go quite like you planned it
We try so hard to understand it
Irrefutable, indisputable
The fact is –
It happens”
however we can all take comfort in knowing, when the time is right and GOD is ready for them to close on the house and move in, they will and we will all be right there on their doorstep.
love ya mom and dad.
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