The past week or so has been quite a roller coaster, chocked full of events.
Last Monday, I viewed a condominium that interested me in the Whilden Place community in Greensboro. It looked better on paper than in person, but its two bedrooms and attic enticed me with the thoughts of separate sleeping and studying areas and plenty of storage for all of my possessions. Later, I spent a pleasant evening with my neighbors on their front porch, enjoying conversation and camaraderie, not to mention a couple of beers and one of the cigars that I brought from Manila. I went home that evening in my altered state and laid down in the grass in my back yard at nearly midnight. Pepper ran over and licked my face. I looked up at the stars, which were finally visible after several cloudy days. I lifted my head and looked at the soft light filtering through the windows of my den and the ceiling fan turning slowly inside. Did I really want to leave this place, my home? Did I really want to move away from these people? Would it really be that impractical to find a roommate and continue commuting to Greensboro after beginning law school?
My house officially went on the market on Tuesday. I stayed at home on Tuesday and Wednesday to make the house ready for showings and engaged in a flurry of cleaning and repair projects, the most significant of which was painting the entire floor of my front porch. Pouring all of this energy into my house kept stirred-up my sentimentality for the place. As luck would (or wouldn't) have it, I'd taken my car to the dealership for routine service and received some shocking news at mid-morning -- in addition to the $550 or so just for the service interval, they'd found other problems (including the rear brakes) and the bill would be closer to $1,000! Yes, again. Yes, within a month of my last $1,000 repair bill. I took this as a sign and resumed making my house ready for the market with fresh vigor. On Wednesday, my handy-womon came over and worked for a few hours on miscellaneous projects and I met friends Travis and Tony for dinner at California Fresh Buffet, which is closing at the end of this month. (It's fitting that one of my favorite restaurants should close as I'm moving.) A handful of viewers and curious neighbors came through the house and I had pleasant conversations with each of them.
I did a few law-school-related things on Thursday, including attending a talk on copyright issues at work and the Thursday afternoon tea at Elon Law. Each Thursday, Elon Law hosts a social hour with a local judge as the guest of honor. That Thursday's judge was Katherine Eagles. Her husband, Bill Eagles, taught the civil liberties course that I audited this semester. He's enough of a character that I was interested to meet his wife and take advantage of the opportunity to schmooze with members of the Elon Law community, as it was becoming more apparent that I'd end up there. I did enjoy speaking to the Eagles, as well as several Elon Law faculty and students and members of the Greensboro legal community.
On Friday, Pepper and I hit the road for Beaufort SC (pronounced BYEW-fert, as opposed to Beaufort NC, pronounced BOW-fert) to visit Mum, who is living there part-time in her retirement. I stopped en route in Rockingham and had lunch with Mamaw and Papaw. I stopped by the Filipino grocery store before leaving Winston-Salem and surprised Mum and Mamaw with some ube (purple sweet potato) ice cream. I had a fine time in Beaufort and enjoyed the beautiful architecture, natural scenery, and seafood (soft-shell crabs -- yum!), though Mum embarrassed me at dinner one night by flirting a bit too strongly with our waiter, whom we later found out was all of 26 years old. The long drive down and back went by quickly thanks to being broken up with meal stops in Rockingham and stretch/fuel/pee breaks in Santee and Latta.
While I was in Beaufort, my Realtor called to report that he had received two written offers for my house! We agreed that, in the interest of fairness, we'd apprise the bidders of the situation and ask them to submit follow-up bids. We also came up with a plan to make an offer on the Whilden Place condo that I had viewed. He called back to report good and bad news -- both bidders had come back with slightly higher offers, but the Whilden Place condo had just gone under contract. I made a plan to view some other condos in the Sunset Hills community in Greensboro and reviewed the revised purchase offers. I accepted the offer from Norma, a neighbor who walks her dog past my house nearly every day and collects litter as she goes. I had shown her the house initially and she had returned with her Realtor. I just had a good feeling about Norma. My neighbors, who also know Norma, greeted me with elation when I returned home from signing the offer.
Also while I was in Beaufort, mail arrived from the law schools at UNC Chapel Hill and NCCU. NCCU admitted me, but UNC Chapel Hill put me on a waiting list. Besides my feeling that I had waited long enough for a decision from UNC Chapel Hill (4.5 months), they wrote that they might not reach a final decision until 24 August, almost two weeks after classes will have already begun at Elon Law. So, that was it. Decision made. Elon it is. The folks at Elon were courteous enough to give me a decision quickly (about six weeks), offered me a partial scholarship, have shown unwavering eagerness to have me join their community, and have been generally very on-the-ball with everything.
So, that's it! I've made my final decision about where to attend law school and after six days on the market, my house is under contract! Chris pointed out that the short time on the market and smooth negotiations were a further sign that selling my home is the right thing to do. Closing is set for 16 May and I have a lot of work ahead of me, both packing and finishing up projects with the house, so I'm gonna end this blog entry and get to it! :J
