Part A
We were at the closing (in unbearable mid-July Vermont heat) and when I say "We" I mean half the town, it seemed. Kurt's "power of" attorney, since he was inabsentia, my mortgage broker, Amanda, my sister and Realtor, Bea, my lawyer, Ted and possibly a few others, I think. And we had all been praying that Ted had gotten an air conditioner put in the conference room (he had not) because it was stifling outside and what with body heat and all the anxiety in the room, it was a recipe for disaster. It was a Thursday, because they rarely try to close on Fridays, because, as my realtor sister had informed me more than once, "Something always goes wrong. Always. This can and will literally take hours! And frankly? It might or might not even happen today. Thank God it's Thursday!" Very confidence-inspiring words, right?
So it is going ok and by "OK" I mean I was being told what to sign or initial and I was doing it. Like about 10,000 times. Explanations of this and that were going right through me like water. Everyone paid very strict attention to the details, as if someone was reading a WILL and we were all about to become very, very rich!Of course, when I had questions, I asked them and got answers, sometimes during and sometimes after everyone in the room looked at everyone else like it was a Gun Smoke tv episode shoot out about to happen. Then the checks started to fly. I ended up with a few, Amanda handed Ted one that he may have given to Kurt's lawyer? Bea had one from somewhere. It was all very blurry--and did I mention how HOT it was in there? We were literally fanning ourselves with checks in that office. Even the cold shower I had taken RIGHT BEFORE I went to the closing had worn off by then.
So somebody had the bright idea to open a door! Then the heat really came in like the blast furnace that that day was shaping up to be. A few minutes later, a couple (man/woman) who are apparently notorious around town for stealing things, came by and lifted up the hanging plant that Amanda had purchased and brought there for me (pink, very full blossoms, lovely) and started to walk away. "Nope!" Amanda yells out. "That's ours!" and jumps up from the table to chase after the couple and retrieve the housewarming gift. (Later, Bea told me that Amanda NEVER gives gifts to homeowners and she was really impressed...of course, I did go through all 12 years of school with Amanda and always really liked her, so I wasn't at all surprised.)
After we smiled and laughed about the near-theft, we got back down to business and then a really cool thing happened: another of my many sisters, Sukie, drove by and honked her truck horn. I could see some of my furniture in the back, my antique desk, a few chairs...and she thumbs upped and then thumbs downed. Bea thumbs sideways and Sukie kept going (off to buy a cold drink.) Then the keys to my new home were handed from the power of attorney, to Tim and then to me. I think either everyone clapped or probably not because we were all collapsing from the suffering heat, or shook hands or something and then we all left. I got in my car and Bea said she'd be there in a minute, saying her goodbyes to her pals we had just spent a better half of an afternoon with...
I drove up the street, past the Bijou and every church my little town has every built, turned right up Maple and then looked for the sign (I'd only been there three times before) and when I got to the house, my new home by the woods, there were three nieces and my nephew rising up from the stairs and all clapping their congratulations! It was a heart-warming moment and one I will always remember. The heat just stopped. The shade on one side of the house was cool and a little breeze picked up. I took the keys and they all followed me into the entrance of my ridiculously filthy carpeted yet lovely painted home with two really great bathrooms, with all new siding, windows and roof. The first thing we did? Was rip up the carpets! And the second thing we did? Was have pizza and beer!
No comments:
Post a Comment