Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Last Week Before "The Move"...

To be honest, I have never liked change. I like stability and consistency. It makes me feel secure. Most people find moving to a new place stressful, but for me it’s stress to the max. I have been living with chaos the past couple of months. Boxes everywhere. Every weekend we go to BJ’s and pick up another dozen boxes and then I spend the rest of the week filling them up. Who knows if I will find everything after I move? I try to label the boxes, but there are so many of them. We probably have at least 100 boxes full of stuff. I haven’t had to go back to look for anything, and I haven’t missed any of the things that are packed. I came to the conclusion that maybe I should have thrown it all out. That would have made everything easier.

Tomorrow we close on both houses. There are times I can barely breathe from the anxiety. I hate change, but this is necessary and long overdue. Just the last minute things are left to pack. The floor guys are going to the new house on Thursday to do the hardwood floors. The move is set for July 24th. If I could just shut off my brain from thinking about all the "what if's" I might be able to sleep. I took a pill last night, and still got up at 4 am.

The buyers of my house have been very anxious to move in sooner than later. They even wanted to close at the end of June so they could start working on the basement while I am still living here. I told that that was out of the question. For one thing, I have so many boxes in the basement and no where to put them. Second of all, I am buying a house in “move-in” condition so as not to deal with construction. The last thing I need while packing is workers going in and out and making noise all day. Our contract says we will close not before July 15th. I needed the time to find a house and luckily I did, because there weren’t many on the market. I think I got the last one in the category and price range I was looking for. I saw it Mother’s Day weekend and made an offer right away. It’s only two months later and I am packed to go, but it’s not fast enough to suit them.

The sellers of the house I am moving into are a young family with two children around 3 and 5 years old. The woman’s father has Alzheimer’s and has been in and out of the hospital. She is stressed to the max herself trying to pack up a house while staying with her parents and going back and forth from the hospital. Her father isn’t doing well at the moment. It’s difficult for me to put additional pressure on her to move faster so I can get in because my buyers are impatient. I wanted to give them enough time to pack up their house. They said they could close July 8th and so at the end of June I called my lawyer to get the ball rolling because everyone was ready.

You are going to love this…when I tell my lawyer we want to close on July 15th because everyone is ready, he tells me we aren’t ready. He sent for a survey on the house and it hasn’t come yet. I told him to arrange everything anyway, I doubt the survey will be an issue. He tells me, for the first time, that he will be away the first two weeks of July! I nearly have a stroke! How the hell are we going to close July 15th when he is away and will be getting back July 11th?  He tells me his assistant will make the arrangements. I call her the next day to make sure we are on the same page. We need to close on both houses on July 15th. She is already aware and says she will send out emails and make phone calls as soon as she gets off the phone with me. A week goes by. Finally she calls me back and says July 15th didn’t work, but everything is a go for the 17th. I say great.

Now in my contract we put that I have 7 days to move out after closing, because I wanted to do the hardwood floors first. The sellers of the new house have 5 days to move out in their contract, but moved everything sooner so the house would be empty on closing for me. That brings us to my moving date of the 24th.

Last night my Realtor gets a call regarding the walk through of my house and he is asked if he knew we were staying an extra week after the closing. He says yes, it’s in the contract and was agreed to. They were under the impression that because they had to wait to close that we would be out on the day of closing. They seem to have no concept of the fact that I need to move into an empty house and not one that is still occupied by the previous owners. They don’t know the terms of my contract with the other people. It’s a chain reaction. They are lucky things moved as fast as they did. The sellers of the new house put their things in storage because they are moving in with her parents. If they had to find a house and wait for other people to move, this could have dragged on another month. I may have to explain some of this to them so they know I have not been dragging my feet. I would love to be out of here, the sooner the better. Yesterday morning there was more music blaring outside my window, a constant reminder of why I set all this in motion.

I just can’t wait to be settled and organized. The next two or three weeks are going to be very stressful to say the least. This weekend I have to get two bedroom sets for the girls and have them delivered after the move. Down the road I need to find a living room set and entertainment center. Somehow I can’t see having the time to do that, but I suppose I will find it. I want something I really like and that will last a long time to come. I know people will say, take one day at a time, relax, drink wine, forget your troubles, everything will work out in the end. I know all that, but it’s the meantime that’s killing me.

P.S. sorry for the lack of blogs. I miss writing so much and hope to get back to it on a regular basis once I am settled in.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Trayvon Martin Rest In Peace...

I woke up to hear the acquittal verdict in the George Zimmerman trial. I remain in shock at the incomprehensible decision reached by the jury. I haven’t been able to follow the trial as much as I would have liked, but right from the start I felt this was a slam dunk for the prosecution. The whole crime was documented on 911 recordings, there were witnesses, there was evidence.  The jury heard it all and in 16 short hours came to their verdict and acquitted Zimmerman of all charges.

I don’t get it. I understand that there was conflicting testimony about two key facts. First, experts could not identify who was crying out for help and both families said it was Trayvon or George. Then there were witnesses who said they saw Trayvon on top of George in the struggle, others saw George on top of Trayvon. These witnesses were probably instrumental in the jury’s decision by creating “reasonable doubt.” The Florida “Stand Your Ground” law allows a person, whose life is being threatened, to defend themselves. That’s what the defense used to help get George off. But what about Trayvon? Doesn’t he get to stand his ground?

The way I see it, this tragedy would have never happened but for George Zimmerman’s actions. Trayvon took a break from playing video games to go buy a snack. He went out for some Skittles and iced tea. It was raining. He wore his hoodie with his head covered. He went back home, snacks in hand, and talking on his cell phone. George Zimmerman spotted him and thought he looked suspicious. Why? Trayvon wasn’t doing anything, but walking home. The only reason I have heard as to why he looked suspicious to George is because he was black and wearing a hoodie in the rain. For those reasons he decided to call 911 and report Trayvon. The 911 operator told George NOT to follow Trayvon and that they were sending the police out. George ignored them and decided to pursue Trayvon himself. Trayvon told his friend, on the phone, that he was being followed. I don’t know about you, but it would make me very nervous if someone was following me. And if I changed directions and they were still following me, I would start to panic. Trayvon’s friend told him to run home. She must have been concerned and sensed the concern in Trayvon’s voice, to advise him to do that. But, Trayvon was a young man and probably his pride would not let him run home scared. So Trayvon kept walking and an armed George Zimmerman kept following him, like he was hunting for game. Finally, Trayvon confronted George. I imagine his adrenaline was running high and he had no idea what George’s intentions were. So Trayvon stood his ground. He wasn’t armed. He had every right to be in the apartment complex. The confrontation turned into a fight. Who was defending themselves, George or Trayvon? Who had the gun? Whose actions provoked the confrontation? Who was told not to follow Trayvon because the police were on their way?

I don’t care who was on top, who was straddling who, who was yelling for help. All of that doesn’t prove anything really. The stage for tragedy was set when George Zimmerman decided to use racial profiling and assume an overzealous vigilante position despite his training in security watch protocol and what he was told by 911. How was Trayvon supposed to think he had anything but bad intentions, the way George was pursuing him? Wouldn’t any reasonable person feel threatened and in fear for their safety? So he reacted from the fear George created in him and it cost him his life. George wasn’t afraid. George had a gun, so he knew he had the upper hand. But I guess the jury didn’t see it that way. I would like to know how the arrived at their decision and what they considered. Whatever the case, it’s a sad commentary on society.

My prayers go out to Trayvon’s family. They lost an innocent, precious child and there will be no earthly justice for them.