It’s been weeks since I’ve logged in here, weeks since time has allowed for the reflection this space offers.

In these weeks my family has grown to include two new children–welcome to the world Asher Widlanski (3/29) and Ellery Powers Loverme (3/22)!–and the announcement of Cristin/Joe anticipating the arrival of Jackson’s younger brother ~October 2.

And Pattie and I will relocate to Raleigh in about 7+ weeks. For a few years now we’ve been searching for an approach to family needs, largely wanting to ease any potential issues that arise during the aging process. Lots of lessons learned from my mom’s illness and passing back in 2010, we hope to find an easier time by relocating to an area ~15 minutes from Pattie’s sisters (still a distance from her brother at the beach), and welcoming her mom into the large space which our new place has in the bottom floor (almost 1000 sq ft).

While we (us and Pattie’s siblings) have considered lots of options over the past few years, this seemed the most efficient way to proceed, and we’re excited about it. It’s new construction, which is a completely new experience for us. This little development in N Raleigh (near 540/Six Forks Rd, for those who know the area) will mean living in a townhome, rather than a stand alone house. No yard work, but no large yard for Frankie; but she’ll have the company of mom-in-law’s small dog Bailey, and we will fence in a small area and install a doggie door. Townhome living will mean neighbors abutting, as in Surf City, and we’ll hope for good folks and relative quiet. The space is, unlike what I expected for our next home, actually considerably larger than our current place, which should give us all space to ourselves. Quite a luxury, and we’re very fortunate to be able to make this happen.

We’ll have an inspection May 17, a “new home orientation” May 19, and the closing May 27. Then we’ll have some work done to create a kitchen area in the bottom floor, allowing mom to have the means she’d like to maintain independence. That kitchen, also finishing some unfinished rooms–creating a laundry room for mom, and a sewing room in a room on the top floor which will open into a space we’ll use for my office/studio and a second living room–will hopefully all be complete before our moving day on June 9.

Mom has now shown her Gvl home to one person, and now she’s under contract to sell. What a great time to be selling a home. Pattie/I have been packing for weeks now, slowly but surely. We’re not completely done, but really quite close to ready to show the house. We’ll try to do this on our own, without broker/agent, to save the commission fee (6%). I’ll put out a sign next week, and arrange showings beginning May 1. Hoping it’s as quick a process as most people seem to be experiencing these days. We did get a call from someone who knows we’re selling, so we showed it last night to a young couple…Pattie seems convinced they want to make an offer, I’m less sure. They know we’re putting it on the market next week, so if they’re interested, we’ll find out soon, I imagine.

It’s been quite a process, this packing up. We had gotten rid of alot when clearing out for renters while we were away last year, and that certainly helped. But there’ve still been many trips to donate things to Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity, and 2nd hand stores. And, very thankfully, I’ve also had luck simply leaving various construction materials, scrap wood, etc., on the curb, and finding folks just come by and pick it up. We sold a few things via FB marketplace, which was an amazingly fast process–things gone in hours. And the best was, within 7 minutes of posting, finding someone interested in hauling away 100+ landscaping blocks from the back of our yard. It took three people more than two hours to haul those blocks (and lots of broken up concrete, too) away; it would have taken me a full day to load and haul that to the dump, let alone the cost of dumping.

So now the house looks good, and I’ve taken pictures of almost every room. Today I’ll get pix of the two remaining rooms, as well as some outside shots of the front and back yards.

Then there’s school, which is finishing up well, and I’m so very proud of our students and their hard work. More on school tomorrow…

Leaving you with the best of recent days, Jackson with his dog Ellie, and with dad and Oscar: