You Get What You Give: A Note of Thanks and Some Advice

I am one lucky person.  Well maybe not that lucky.  I am at a point in my life where a lot of things are starting to click.  Big changes are about to happen and for the first time in my life that I can remember, I feel really good about where life is headed.  If you read my last post, you'll know that after twenty years in my house, I have decided to sell.  It's one of the biggest decisions I've ever made and as the days have passed since that post, I'm actually starting to get excited...but that's not what I wanted to talk about...

When I posted It's Happening the other night, it was late.  I pretty much hit the 'publish' button and called it a night.  Well, I woke up the next morning to almost 500 page views, 80 likes and 50-plus comments on Facebook, as well as several texts and messages, all entirely supportive of my decision.  I was literally overwhelmed with emotion from it all.  I even heard from people I hardly connect with much anymore, and it just got me to thinking of how lucky, yet not so lucky I am.

I'm lucky because I have a support system of incredible people around me...friends, family, colleagues, and even simple acquaintances.  I don't always remember that until something like this comes along and boom, even the simplest of gestures gives me a feeling like no other.  I am humbled and feel very blessed. 

Once the house had been put up just yesterday and I posted the pictures my friend and realtor Ricardo had taken, the love and support flooded me all over again.  Lol, I don't know if it's the gay or the Italian in me, but I shed tears several times from all the compassion.  I just want to say here and now thank you to each and every person who reached out to me over the past several days.  Having every single one of you in my life is a blessing that I cherish!

That being said, I am a firm believer that this isn't all luck, and thus this teacher's advice to any of you reading.  You always get back what you give, and I like to think that the love and support that I give to anyone in my life is what I am feeling back right now.  I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I think I'm someone who's heart is always in the right place and, well I think I'm a fun person to be around, too, so...

So please take heed this little whatever you might call it.  If you're genuine and kind you're going to find that that it will come back to you tenfold.  I am proof of that.  If you don't behave this way, well, karma can be a bitch.  There's not nearly enough kindness in the world, so if you want to feel the love like I have these past few days, then you've got to give it!   

 

It's Happening!

I just spent the past five hours packing.  Not packing for a trip, but really for the unknown.  You see, I've been making these tentative plans in my head for about the last two years and I really still don't know what the heck I'm doing, but I do know it looks like I am selling my house. 

I've been avoiding this decision for a long time now, but with summer winding down and a new school year ahead, it is time to dive in and just do it.  To be honest, I am scared and sad all at the same time.  I'm scared because I have no idea what to expect, no idea where I'll be going, and I dread whatever headaches will be coming my way in the process...

But most of all, I am really sad.  As I take pictures off the walls, put my belongings in boxes and organize them into a staging area for moving in my basement, it all seems so real.  This is really happening and it's hard to believe.  Just a couple of weeks ago, I hit the twenty year mark of living in this house, the longest I've ever lived in one place.

Back in 1998, my ex Joe and I bought this place together after having rented for about seven years.  I remember at first, I didn't like it.  I preferred another house a few miles from here, but Joe, who was an interior designer by trade, saw the character and potential in this place, and convinced me.  And I've loved living here from the day we first moved in. 

He and I spent both a wonderful and tumultuous ten years together here, and when our relationship ended, I really thought the house would be sold in the aftermath.  Little did I know, I made an emotional decision to buy the house from him and in the ten years since, I've created a new life for myself and have had wonderful times here. This is what I know.

The house is perfect for one person.  It's small enough to take care of and it's big enough for entertaining friends.  But it has become too much for me to take care of, both physically and financially and I know that I have to do this.  The real estate guy is coming Friday and I would imagine after that there'll be no turning back.  Sigh!  Stay tuned....

What a Difference Two Missing Trees Make

As I mentioned in yesterday's Song of the Day post, I had two trees taken down in the front of my house and oh man, what a difference it made!  Ever since I bought this house in 1998, trees have always been a problem.  Sure, trees are beautiful and provide us with all sorts of things like shade and oxygen, a home for critters and so on, but when you own a home, they can be a hazard as well.

Sometime during the history of my home, someone had the bright idea of planting five maple trees in a pattern around the yard.  There were the two in front on either side of the narrow driveway, two right behind the house on either side of the property, and one more in line with the two trees on the left of the driveway a little further back, by the garage.  That was the first one to be a problem...

In this picture you can see four of the five 

trees I'm talking about.  Now I'm down to two!

When Joe and I had moved in in the summer of 98, the roots of this one tree in particular had already worked their way under the driveway, lifting it into a misshapen form.  It was huge!  Around ten years ago we were having a windstorm and that particular tree was swaying like a rubber pencil in the wind, coming precariously close to falling on the neighbor's garage.  It had to come down!

I took over sole ownership of the house in 2008, and the two trees I had cut down yesterday had long been on my to-do list.  Besides making the driveway hopelessly narrow, they both had been losing limbs and more during windstorms over the years, and electric wires were perilously entangled in the branches of one of them.  Though I've dreamed about taking them down for  long time, I couldn't imagine it ever really happening, but I came across a bargain and I went for it.

And so yesterday morning the trees came down.  It was kind of sad, but necessary, and now my entire house looks completely different. Even the landscape of my entire block is different without these two long-standing giants.  I posted the 'after' picture on Facebook, and to my surprise almost everyone of my friends who has been to my house either liked it or made a comment...

Looks great!

Wow!  Very nice!

Now I'm really gonna drive past your house and get lost.  I like it, though!

It doesn't have the same curb appeal.

Wow, it looks so different!

Now you can appreciate the house.

Wow, now you can put in sun-loving plants, not just shade.  Nice!

It's gonna be a pretty spring there!

Wow!  Just wow!

Now you can burn your rake!

All true!  And even 43 likes to this point.  Yes, this is big!  When you do big things like this to a house that you own, it gives you incentive to do more.  Ah, but houses are a money pit, aren't they? Still, I can't wait until spring!

Song of the Day - Timber - Pitbull and Ke$ha

Today is a long-awaited day for me, as two giant trees in front of my house will be coming down. I say a long time coming because they've needed to come down ever since I've been living here...since 1998.  As you can see from the picture, the two trees sit at the foot of my driveway, leaving little room for auto navigation and making the driveway itself very narrow.  Also, the trees are in pretty bad shape, physically, too.  A couple of years ago, Sandy completely shaved off the top half of the one closest to my front yard and for a while there, it looked like I had some sort of giant sculpture in front of my house...

So anyway, here's a perfect song for the day, for me...TIMBER!!!!!