The Showers of Blessings

I seemed to disappear on the face of the earth. Well, in fact, my world is like a whirlwind currently. I flew to Portland Oregon two days before Thanksgiving to spend the holiday with my daughter Mercy and her family. The day after Thanksgiving, we drove from Portland to Victoria, BC, to attend my sister’s wedding on Saturday. My other sister, Yolanda, and her husband from Hong Kong came to the wedding. It was exciting to see them. We saw each other in 2019 when my husband and I, and Mercy’s family, went to their son’s wedding in Hong Kong. Yolanda and her husband were happy to see their daughter and son-in-law in Vancouver after the wedding. I was happy to spend a few days with Yolanda’s family before returning to California on Wednesday, November 30.

We soon will say goodbye to our home of 33 years. I’ve lived in this home longer than any homes I had ever lived in the previous years of my life. Will I miss it?

I always wanted to move close to my daughter in Portland after my retirement from the public-school education. I’ve stayed in Southern California for many reasons.

For business reasons, prior to the pandemic, I was still running a private business, an after-school program as my second job since 1989. I considered it to be a service to the students and to the working parents. It was hard for me to discontinue the program. When the California schools closed for in-person attendance, the after-school programs ceased to operate. Even when schools re-open, the public schools didn’t have clear state guidelines for the after-school programs as far as wearing masks or no masks and other safety requirements. During the two years of non-operation, my after-school staff found other jobs. It would be hard for me to hire new staff and train them. I officially closed the program in January 2021.

For personal reasons, most of my friends are in Southern California since I live in this part of the country the longest. I came to Los Angeles in 1980, right after I finished school in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. I lived in Los Angeles for 6 years, in San Bernardino County for 3 years, and have lived in Orange County since 1989. Yet my friends are diminishing for many reasons. Some friends moved to other states to be closer to their grown children’s families. Some friends have declining health and are no longer active in their social life. Sadly, some had reached the end of their earthly life because of prolonged illness and cancer.

The biggest reason was that my husband wanted to be close to his mom. Most of my husband’s siblings live in Riverside. His mom also lived in Riverside by herself after her husband passed away. My husband called her on the phone regularly to check on her. He and I visited her until she moved to a Memory-Care home. When her dementia got worse, it was hard for her to talk on the phone. We drove an hour each way to visit her, but she couldn’t carry on a conversation with us. Eventually, she died of other complications in June 2022. At the end of August, my husband expressed an interest in moving to Portland to be close to Mercy and the grandkids. He said his mom’s passing made him feel free of the obligation to stay in California.

Our home search in Portland, Oregon, began toward the end of August. We made offers on three homes but withdrew them for different reasons. We withdrew the first offer because the inspector found some structural damage and we didn’t want to negotiate with the seller. On the second offer, there was another offer prior to ours. For the third offer, the interest rate started skyrocketing. We decided to sell our current home before buying another one.

We worked with an agent to list our home in mid-October. Fortunately, we got two offers after 12 days of being on the market. One offer was secured, and the closing of the escrow will be on December 7, 2022. In the meantime, we moved all our belongings to storage. On the day of closing the escrow, my husband and I will drive one car to Portland and ship one other car there. We’ll stay with my daughter while searching for a new home.

The search process is challenging. I hope we’ll have a smoother process in finding a home that was meant for us.

I’m excited to join Linda Bradley, Mae Clair, Sandra Cox, and M.J. Mallon at Sally Cronin’s Blog where she hosts the Christmas Book Fair showcasing the indie authors and their books. Please join the fun and support the authors. See you there!