October 01, 2003 - 3:02 p.m.
We are mostly finished. We now own a home in Loudoun.
We just can't move in for a month - which has its perks. The previous owners are renting back for 31 days which covers our November rent plus some. We have a leisurely 4 weeks to set up utilities and other accounts and another semilesiurely 4 weeks to move in before our apartment lease expires. And there are rarely November snowstorms in Virginia.
...Now I've done it. Buy bread and milk immediately. To the grocery store! Flee!
There is, of course, the possibility that something hideous could happen between now and the 31st or at least something damn annoying because...
...They got a puppy.
Now I ask you - what kind of people who have already sold their home, are purchasing a new one, and packing to move get a puppy? They assured us she's crated when they are gone and at night, she's responding well to being housebroken, and they're going to clean the carpets after moving out anyway. What's to worry?
I'm trying to be only silently skeptical. And planning to check every bit of molding below 14" for damage in the final walkthrough....
Thanks to everyone who sent messages or email after last weekend's event. Though I wanted to be there, particularly since Colin was a defender on the Courtly Love team, but another event was scheduled in conflict and, after some deliberation, I decided it was better for me to go to the 50th wedding anniversary party of the couple who were 2nd parents to me as I was growing up. I don't remember meeting the girl who was my best friend from kindergarten to 4th grade but P- and I spent most of our time together for the 4 years she lived nearby - all of 3 blocks away, which was an immense distance when I was 6. Her parents treated me like one of their own children, even watching my sister and me after school every day for a month and a half while my mother was in the hospital one winter. My sister caught a cold sometime that month and Mrs. W kept her from morning until dinnertime until she was able to return to school.
I am terrible about keeping up with people after we're separated by more than 3/4 of a mile. So I consider it something of an achievement to still be in contact with P- and her family after over 25 years and multiple residences (on both sides). P- has had some bad luck, or rather, made some bad choices in recent years and I have regretted not taking more of an active role in our friendship that might have helped her avoid the mess she's currently in. Not that she might have listened to me - she can be very stubborn, almost as much as I - but I can't help but wonder if my intervention would have changed anything. So I also went to the party this weekend with the intention of finally getting the opportunity to talk to her in person and find out, in detail, what's going on. I partially succeeded.
My parents, who traveled with me and helped out with minding the boys, stayed in Herndon overnight and we took them out for breakfast Sunday morning. We've just discovered the Silver Diner in Reston. It's a good substitute for Lulu's. The boys had chocolate chip pancakes for the first time and Zack has been requesting them every meal since.
Mom and Dad left after breakfast and called a little while later from Falmouth to say that Grandmommy finally had her electricity restored - just in time for the Redskins game. She was very pleased.
