The goodness of God is the highest object of prayer, and it reaches down to our lowest need.
It quickens our soul and gives it life, and makes it grow in grace and virtue.”
St. Julian of Norwich
(The Mayor is all smiles…if only she knew what was coming her way…./Julie Cook / 2018)
Almost two years ago, before my husband sold out his business and before we had
The Mayor in our lives…
we had both already lost our parents, I was retired and our son and daughter-n-law
had moved away.
We knew we didn’t have much that was remaining keeping us here in our current community.
No family to speak of…so selling, downsizing or simply resizing seemed like a
viable thought.
We toyed with the idea of perhaps moving and in turn, started kind of looking around.
I like nature, the woods, the mountains, the ocean, water…
He likes nature, the woods, the mountains, not so much the ocean, but definitely water
as in lakes and streams.
Maybe someplace out west?
Someplace wide, unpopulated and quiet?
Maybe somewhere down in Florida’s panhandle…white sands or better for him, out on the bay?
Maybe up in the mountains of Tennessee or North Carolina?
It doesn’t hurt to look and dream right?
We actually came very close to pulling the trigger a year ago on a place in Florida
but walked away before going too far.
And it was shortly thereafter that we found out that The Mayor would be coming.
Sooooooo our vision changed. We couldn’t be far away.
The idea of The Mayor coming into our lives put a halt to ever being further away
then we are now.
The notion and thought of different, however, remained…particularly as my husband
sold out the business in June.
Maybe we should move closer to The Mayor?
Despite having grown up there, I hate Atlanta…
And my small town husband…well, I think living in the city would kill him or kill
me for having to live with him in said city!
Still, there just wasn’t anything keeping us here…albeit the house we built 20 years ago.
And it’s 5 acres are getting more and more overwhelming…
more than either of us can physically maintain…we have
more than enough bedrooms…let’s just keep looking…right?
So we thought we had found a place in North Georgia, up in the mountains and not much
further from The Mayor than we are now.
We got right close to closing on this latest pipedream of ours when we realized
the impending house was in worse shape than we actually were aware and that getting
it up to speed, to the necessary shape expected before the closing, just wasn’t happening…
and who wants to buy a house in bad shape for a price beyond its shape???
Not us.
So that was our wrinkle this past week, besides drawing the ire of realtors.
But such an investment needs to be worth what you’re paying for—not something you
want to be overpaying for…only to turn around to pay more down the road as an
unending fixer upper…think the classic movie The Money Pit.
We’re too old for that.
Add to all of that… we are both still dealing with the messes our respective father’s
each left us upon each of their deaths.
Besides having almost been house poor, we are currently a bit lawyer poor.
At some point, I will be free to write about these two messes we’ve inherited….or
perhaps I’ll simply write a book from our experiences…
Maybe I could title it…
“When it’s your time to go,
make certain those who remain aren’t left cleaning up after you!”
Sooooo…there we were Wednesday night, eyes glazed over, licking our wounds
when the phone rang.
It was The Mayor.
Well actually it was The Mayor’s father who was facetimeing Moppie and Poppie on
behalf of The Mayor.
Our son says…”Mother move away from the phone, just let daddy look”
Hummmmmm…what’s up with that I wondered???!!
Peeking over my husband’s shoulder, aka Poppie, I see The Mayor rolling about like
the wild rabbit she is…I notice she’s wearing some sort of new little shirt.
I can make out only one word, but it’s a keyword that has me instantly jerking the
phone out of my still clueless husband’s hand as I immediatley holler into the phone…..
OH MY GOD, ARE Y’ALL PREGNANT???????!!!!!!!”
The shirt reading “I may be small but I’m going to be a Big Sister”
WHAT THE HELLO DOLLY?????
(The Mayor is mad to be held still so Moppie can clearly read the shirt)
So yeah…not planned, but The Mayor is about to have an assistant…
The assistant, James Gregory, is due May 1…and yes it is a he…
and it’s a safe bet that Poppie is already planning a fishing trip…
So I just bet a lake may be in our future…who knows…
All I do know is that I only thought we were consumed by The Mayor…
now there will be two…under two…
Yes… God help us all!!!!!
“All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”
Julian of Norwich
So the Mayor will have an assistant. Vice Mayor maybe? I bet your husband is thrilled over the name too. Congrats!
He was— I was the one going “oh my gosh, oh my gosh “ while he was beaming but if I remember correctly I was the one up there for four weeks helping-hummmmm
Now don’t be like that lol
I just had to get over the shock—the Mayor is pretty darn demanding…let’s hope she’ll be one to share time 🙂
She will lol
Oh that was a huge surprise ending. Stay put for a while and don’t make any moves until you’re really sure about it. I also love the title of your book, only it might take up the whole cover.
We’ve gone through sorting out the lives of our parents’ pasts as well and I know what you’re saying. When we downsized, it was extremely difficult to get rid of some things, but we did it and then proceeded to rebuild once we moved. I think there must be some hidden secret in leaving our children with the remnants of our lives.
Anyway, I’m so happy to hear you’re going to be grandparents again. It also looks like the mayor has about as many teeth as I do. Way to go, Autumn. Your new adventure is beginning to fill up with wonderful memories for you to make with these special young ones. Congratulations on the good news!!!!
yep, we are put for now for sure!!!!!
and the news is really exciting…once I push aside those harrowing first couple of weeks of adjustment 🙂
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging and commented:
The Mayor has a Sheriff 😎
ahhh-a new sheriff is in town…I like it!!!!!
Was hoping you would like it, now it just needs our Mayor’s endorsement 😍😎
Yes- and that will be telling 🧐
Congratulations, grandmax2. We went through the same thought patterns. We have two children – one in the Memphis area and one in Nebraska. Since the Nebraska grandchildren are about grown (younger one graduates HS this year), my wife is focused on moving to TN, but that son seems to move every few years. He’s a music teacher with no job security in this economy. So, we are staying put for now. Hope you sort out where you need to be. Seems you are in a good place, for now. Blessings.
Thank you Mark—you’re right…it here we stay…certainly for the time being.
Like your son, they have been the movers, not us…so we are the anchors…
I’m just now worried about getting another car seat to put in my car so then no one but babies can sit in the back!!!! 🙂
Get a minivan or a medium to large SUV. One row for kids only and you can haul the kid stuff as well.
I’ve got a smaller suv—I can fit two car seats and a human in the middle 🙂 and baby crap in the back….
I had the 3 row car seating when our son was little and as he got to high school, I sold the three row and went back to two…
my life is now a roller coaster—up, back and now back up 🙂
Great news Julie. Congratulations! And having visited Atlanta a few times I more than understand why you would not wish to live there. With three of ours living in the same county in the north of England hints have been dropped as to when we would be moving north – where they had snow this morning!
Perhaps ignoring said hint might be best— at least until late in the spring early summer 😎 brenton is constantly sending me reality listings neat them 😳
Living in the Midlands suits us Julie – we’ve been in the same small town for nearly 40 years. We’re settled.
🤩
I’m so stinkin’ excited!!! All the practical thoughts and ponderings evaporate quickly – a fabulous May Day is in the works!!!
😍
Congratulations on your great good news! J.
Thank you 😇
Wow! One of each. Congratulations. 😃 Like I said before, your life moves so fast I can’t keep up! I’ve been praying for Abby but now I need to add another soul to the list. So pleased for you. ❤️
Yes Sarah— we are in desperate need of those prayers! Thank you!!
It will see how much one’s love can multiply by having more babies. Like God’s love; it never has to take from one to give to another. With God that is even true with time. However, can that be? Congratulations to all – even the Mayor. She will love her new project, especially when the other residents pay the bills.
it’s all going to be interesting for certain…as well as busy 🙂
This Mayor doesn’t even think budget 🙂 HA
😀
Congratulations! Life is exciting and the Mayor will always have a very special place in your heart but your heart will expand to include her little brother. You only have one child so you aren’t torn about which child to move close to; there will be an answer for the perfect place perhaps even closer than you live now. I really find it challenging to be so far away from my youngest grandchildren since they moved last year. My daughter texted me today to mention that this will be the first Halloween that I haven’t been with them since the children were born. I didn’t need to be reminded. I checked the airfare and it was too prohibitive to slip up at the last minute like this. Enjoy every minute with the little ones – those are precious moments indeed!
thanks Lynda—it’s going to be strange having 2 as I raised only one and have thus far only had The Mayor…having a girl a first threw me a curve ball… but I fell right in step…I figure I’ll fall into step with two…
How far a drive is it to the Soo from Toronto?
I wish you could go!!
Julie, it’s about a 9 hour drive to the Soo and the snow is beginning to fly so it’s not a drive I want to try by myself at this time of year. I should have planned ahead but I was busy planning the Camino with my daughters. Hopefully I’ve learned a lesson.
And I want to hear all about the Camino!!!
The Mayor may not know this yet but she needs an assistant and will some day be appreciative of her new helper. Congratulations to you and your family Julie, what a blessing! 🙂
What a fun way to find out you are going to be grandparents again. Congratulations!
Congratulations Julie! A Moppie twice-blessed, how truly wonderful! Heartfelt hugs & blessings sent your way!
Amen! Congratulations!!
💜
thank Lorrie—hope you have had a nice holiday thus far
Wow what an epic way of introducing that news to you and your husband! I know why now I missed this post, it was towards crunch time before I left to teach at a previous country last year in the fall!
I figured you were already traveling
On that date I didn’t travel yet but there were last minute polishing of my messages to teach and there was also some emergency counseling I had to deal with on October 27th that you posted this; man reading this made me recall how crazy October was for me personally and also for you in light of the post.
You can at least remember it— I can’t— except I remember the mayor had bronchitis for Halloween 🎃
Wow that would be memorable; poor mayor!
Other than that- October is a blur 😵
Feel ya!
🤗
=P