Living out of suitcases

So, we’re still here in Atlanta at my parents’ house, which is still standing, miracle of miracles. We were supposed to go home on Tuesday, but our plans changed.

Why?

Let me see if I can even begin to explain.

The night before the kids and I left, B casually mentioned that he’d scheduled contractors to work on the house while we were gone. I didn’t give it much thought because he’s been talking about contractors for weeks. When he dropped us off at the airport, B asked if it was possible for me and the kids to stay at my parents’ house longer than the two weeks we’d already scheduled.

Little did I know what I was in for.

That afternoon, as we were driving from the airport to my parents’ house, B sent a picture of the house. And oh my gosh. B has asked that I not go into specifics on the work done, so I’ll just say that it was a good thing the kids and I were out of the way.

B also surprised me with the news that he had hired people to pack the entire contents of our house – something I was really looking forward to doing so that I could purge the kids’ belongings. Now I’ll just have to do it on the other end of the process. In the meantime, all our belongings are stacked in boxes in the house, waiting to be moved out.

All of this means that we won’t be living in our house again. Once the work is done, B doesn’t want the kids in the house to mess things up, and he doesn’t want to have to worry about getting everything cleaned up on short notice when someone (fingers crossed) wants to see the house.

The kids and I aren’t so sure about all of this, especially Ella, who has been in tears more than once. She wants to sleep in her bedroom and climb her favorite tree again.

When we leave Atlanta on Wednesday, we’ll be heading out to B’s dad’s house to stay for a few days. Then we’ll be moving back into town to stay in our neighbors’ house for two weeks while they’re out of town – they were kind enough to offer their house, which is a huge help.

But after that, I just don’t know. We may go back to B’s dad’s house; we may rent a house. It all depends on how quickly our house sells and how fast we can buy a new one. Until we move, though, we’ll be wearing the clothes we brought with us to Atlanta – everything else is packed.

B’s been sending me listings for potential houses, and I’ve been going through leaving notes about each house. After spending the better part of two hours looking at houses, I can say that some people have very odd ideas on home decoration. Yee gods. The good news is that I’ve found more than one house in our price range that I like.

So I’m hunkered down here in Atlanta for a few more days, trying to keep the kids under control. Given that I handle change about as well as a tired two-year-old, this whole process has been extremely stressful for me. When Ella starts crying that she wants to go home and sleep in her own bed, it’s hard for me not to join right in, because that’s all I want to do, too.

If you don’t hear from me for the next few weeks, it’s because I’m packing and unpacking suitcases and wandering from house to house, children in tow. Keep your fingers crossed that we all survive.