Jessica says the sentiment "I'd trade it for nothing" is grammatically incorrect.
"Here's my married life, wanna trade?"
"Here's nothing in exchange"
"Thank you."
Doh.
She may be right.
What I mean is, I wouldn't trade my marriage, my life, for anything in the world. So I wouldn't trade it for anything. Instead of I'd trade it for nothing.
Stupid, wiseacred 12 almost 13 year old second guessing my writing. Go away! (there. she's gone!)
Last night , my husband and my first born were watching some home shopping TV channel and laughing their asses off at a chocolate fountain thing. The hawkers were talking about what a great and classy, romantic and lovely gift it is to have this three-tiered volcano of chocolate running on your living room table as you dip all kinds of craft into the sugar lava flow.
I'm so glad they were laughing. That is why I love them. But the longer they watched it, the more I feared the likelihood they'd lose resolve, break down, call and order it, like Opus Penguin and the turnip twaddler and salad spinner from back in the day (from Bloom County, for those who do not get the reference).
The past few days have been incredibly busy. On Monday, we decided since we'd gotten literally nothing done all weekend, that it was useless getting started (another reason why Doug and I get along so incredibly well...) and opted to head out geocaching. We planned seven. We ditched Jessica with a friend and headed up to southern NH. The first cache we headed to was in Rock Rimmon state park. Doug found a trail to go to the summit of the "hill." But the trail vanished for absolutely no reason, and we ended up bushwhacking about .24 to the main trail that we should have taken had we stayed on the path we were on... I was bitchy for a few minutes but as far as bushwhacking goes, it was no Norton Cemetery. We got to see this humongous rock which was truly insanely huge. Had we been on the trail, we would have missed that.
See, I'm ever the optimist.
We got to the top... the view to the south and east was stunning, gorgeous -- filled with light fluffy clouds and the sense of happiness. But I turned around and behind us was ... thunder. Huge, oppressive black clouds were coming from the north west... and we were doomed.
We found the cache and skeedaddled. After getting onto the trail that we should have taken on the way up, it started to rain. We stood under a tree and convinced Geoff that it was Nature's Umbrella... for about a minute, until it began to deluge.
It was a shitstorm of rain. Sheets of pouring rain. Doug and I just looked at each other and said, well... we are wet whether or not we stand still or walk, so... we started walking. We thought it would be a passing shower, but hell no. It rained.
This is the third summer we've been doing this game, and this is the first time we've ever been caught by surprise and hit with the rain. We didn't do the other six caches. We came home and I worked on floorplans instead.
The weekend was an off and on washout. But as I told someone at work today, no one got hurt, no one got into a fight, some laughs were had and we survived.
It beat being in a tent somewhere.
My tenant's daughter has moved in with them.
C, the mom, told me today that last weekend they went down and got all her stuff from where she was living with her grandmother, and brought her up here. All this school year she'd been getting into fights with some people, and this time it got to the point where she had a size 13 boot bruise on her leg and the police arrested all involved, and she was expelled from school. She tried to hold her own all year, but finally -- she just couldn't.
So, with two weeks left in the academic year, she's here... and started at our high school today. Much to my daughter's surprise and glee. She likes D a lot, and is psyched to have her here.
She's really sweet, and I like her... and I'm incredibly glad she had an out. Our school district is much much better than where she was. But her moving up here monkey wrenches the hell out of my plans.
Doug and I were going to let P and C know (the husband/wife team) that in September we were hoping they'd move out, and we'd even help them find a place or do whatever necessary to help them.
You see, we have TOTALLY grown out of this space. When we picked this house in 1996 we decided that we would turn it back into a single family house once we were in a financial position to do so. When Clayton moved out in 2001, we didn't rent out his apartment. We took over his unit. His old kitchen is our "study" where I'm sitting now. And his old livingroom is Jessica's bedroom... but it should be a formal living room, and have a nice staircase going up to three bedrooms and a full bath upstairs.
I have a total vision on a plan. We just needed for us to be in a financial position to make it possible, where we didn't rely on their small rent just to make the ends meet each moth. And, I was banking on us being in that position in September... at the earliest.
Now, I'm feeling kind of bad. They just brought this girl up here, she's enrolling in our school system, she's a good kid -- and what. I'm going to ask them to leave just as she's getting settled?
Had they spoken to us first, or had we brought our thoughts and desires up with them, perhaps things might have been different.
I know they'll be cool about it. They love living here, but C has expressed to me that the neighborhood is fifty times noisier than it was a year ago when she moved in with P. And it is. Our neighbor with his truck, and the neighbors across the street are under construction and start at ungodly thirty in the morning... and the dog kennel two doors up with their freaking barking beasts is making her mental ... so she might be keen on the move. I know that her business just failed, and she's got a new job she's starting on Monday, so money might be shaky for them, especially now that D is with them.
I was thinking the summer would give them enough time to get their stuff together and be stable for a move, just the two of them. But if they couldn't find a place here in town... the daughter would have to change schools again.
Housing in this area is insanely expensive. They pay next to nothing in rent. The rental income isn't even really an issue to me... I don't raise their rent because we aren't landlords to make money hand over fist. We charge what we feel is fair for an apartment that size. Combine that with the fact they are hella good people, and we're quite happy.
I know they won't find ANYthing remotely affordable in this town or the next five around us. I'm feeling guilty for even pondering this. Perhaps this time next year would be better, and would give them a full 12 months notice... and if something awesome came into play between now and then, I'd so bless their going.
I am not sure what to do. Any advice? It's always welcome, you know that.
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