My 59th Birthday Blessings
“I was brought up to respect my elders, so now I don’t have to respect anybody.”
Over the last few days, I’ve pondered what to write. In fact, I’ve been stalled for a while on this platform.
It’s my birthday week and I was trying to figure out how to express how I feel about turning 59. It’s so different from 9, 19, 29, 39, or even 49. Those other nines didn’t affect me. Back then, I mostly thought to myself that I’ll be having a new milestone birthday and that’s about it. BUT, 59 is the gateway; entryway; stepping stone to S-I-X-T-Y! It gave me pause for several days and for many reasons. It’s so unlike 50 because 50 is the new 40, so they say.
It struck me that I’m coming of age where life is short has become real.
***
My 58th year was pretty rocky…….
March
There was a pandemic. The worst since 1918. While news reports were announcing that COVID-19 cases had reached the US, I never considered something was about to go down quite as tragic as it did. It didn’t dawn on me that we might be in trouble until work said go home and don’t come back until we say so. What?
July
My husband and I decided that it was time to sell our house. It was a seller’s market so we jumped in with both feet and with a virus all around.
August
We listed our house and it sold in 4 days - That’s that! I should have known something wasn’t quite right.
September
We hurried and moved into temporary housing. My husband refuses to call it home and he always refers to our space as “the apartment”. Any place I sleep for several days is home.
Throughout, it was like living in a hotel for 8 months.
The worst part was we have one bathroom. That was interesting. That’s all ima say on the matter.😱
The silver lining is that I needed this secured building after being burglarized a couple of years ago. I felt safe here in a strange kind of way. And, I always wanted to experience a highrise life in a city where everything is convenient. The pandemic gave me both.
October
We had big plans to buy a ranch. NO MORE STAIRS; and, take advantage of the break-the-bank interest rates. We found the best builder, with the best ranch-style plan in the best subdivision.
Then, our builder called one day and told us he had to increase the sale price or we could walk away. We learned quickly that contracts don’t necessarily prevent builders from changing their minds if they want to. We would have parted ways except there were no houses left in metro Atlanta. Literally!
November
Unfortunately for us, the builder stalled until we walked away anyway. We got our money back and moved on.
January - First Week
We found another home we loved in the most ideal neighborhood. We signed a contract. In one week we walked away again after the inspection failed us.
January - Last Week
Finally, a contract that stuck!
There were disadvantages. We had STAIRS again; a much bigger house; a bigger price tag, and bigger everything. The low-interest rates no longer mattered. We were supposed to be downsizing. We want to retire one day but NOT TODAY.
April
We had a total of 4 closing dates with 3 failed attempts in April.
We had given our apartment building notice and thought we would be homeless except luckily they didn’t have renters yet so they let us stay longer. I haven’t been near homeless since I ran away from home as a teenager.
May Flowers and Aligned Stars
On May 11th we had our initial walk-through pending closing which is set for May 14th.
Here we are today, MY BIRTHDAY and I turned 59. There was something truly celestial about this entire process getting to 59 that I can’t explain. It was something about the stars aligning just in time for the universe to celebrate ME and bless me with a new house; a new phase in my life; and, my husband with me every step of this turbulent journey we’ve been traveling.
How did your year go?
