We have an offer on the house!

I’ve been debating how to develop this blog for a long time and I finally decided that I just had to start and eventually I would reach a point when I was ready to share. I admit I am a bit reticent about posting my writing for all to see, even brief blurbs on Facebook. I am not necessarily a perfectionist but am self-conscious enough about imperfection and I know I have spelling and grammatical shortfalls. But, hey, that is the point of this trip, isn’t it? If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never go.

Our infamous car shopping trip was a year ago this coming weekend. We went car shopping and just couldn’t get excited about spending $25,000 to $30,000 on a new car. As we were test driving a new VW TDI, one of us, I don’t remember which said, “We should just sell both our cars and buy a boat.” The idea stuck. Within a week, Bob was hunting for boats on the internet.

We started reading everything we could get from the library and on the internet. Everything we read said that it was a two to 10 year preparation period for cruising. Finn was not quite two last summer as we began developing our plans and we decided he needed a year or two to mature prior to setting sail. As we continued to read, it became obvious to us that a late fall departure was the best choice for us which gave us a one and a half or two and a half year planning and preparation period. Once the decision was made, two and a half years seemed like an eternity. We knew that a one and a half year turn-around would be very challenging, but hey if you know Bob and I, you know that we have never backed down from a good challenge especially one with such a great reward!

The big task items for setting sail include finding a boat, quitting jobs and selling your house.  My job was already in transition. Hunting for a boat was fun and involved some travel. Bob’s job would be much more of a challenge. Selling the house, hopefully, would not be that difficult.  We knew that the best time to list was early spring so I began searching for a realtor this winter. I met with several and finally selected one.  We were gifted with a late winter and early spring that was unseasonably warm and we managed to paint the porches and tear down the old lean-too all before the official listing date of March 15^th. Both of us were optimistic going in, the house looked great! We had a call within hours of listing and the first showing went well except the family needed more room. We had a second showing within a week and figured we would be out of here by June. Then, NOTHING happened, for a long time.

We have continued to make improvements, redid the milkhouse, installed a new door on my office, moved gobs of stuff to New Hampshire and packed our little sailboat full of yard sale items. We planned the yard sale for Memorial Day and Bob planned to redo the barn sills the following weekend. Brother Tim, made the trip from the North Country to assist. Within a half hour of Tim arriving we had a call for a showing and within four hours, an offer.

We recognize there is a chance of derailment in the coming weeks but the optimism around here has been overflowing.