Looking Back But Moving Forward, An Easter Memory.

Earlier this week Olen and I were penciling in our family plans for the approaching Easter weekend when one of us said, “Remember last Easter? Can you believe it’s only been a year?” Then we both were silent for a long time because we were trying to remember if we just dreamed it or if last year really happened. I had to go back to March 2009 and re-read some of my posts to prove to myself that it really was only twelve months ago that I was in the valley of morning sickness death with Daisy and had just secretly listed our house for sale.

I regret not being able to really talk about that time in our lives here on the blog because it would have been nice to say out loud how much it totally sucked. We knew we couldn’t keep making inflated payments on a house that would never be worth what we paid and that action needed to be taken and taken quick if we wanted to preserve our savings accounts. So I listed the house and we said if it sells then we’ll know that it’s time to move on. Moving on was such a depressing thought for me. We had settled roots in Queen Creek soil and I was feeling way too comfortable to be transplanted. Well, we got our offer in less than thirty days on the market. The bank accepted the offer in less than two weeks. That’s totally unheard of in a short sale transaction, let me just tell you right now, I’ve done my fair share of short sales and ain’t nothing “short” about them. Our buyers were LDS, loved the house and asked to buy our basement furniture, what more of a sign could we ask for? It was time to uproot.

The morning sickness phase ended just in time to start the packing phase in early May. We still didn’t know where we were packing up to, but everything else was working out so well we just kept going with the flow. Plus I think my brain was on overload thinking about Porter’s last month of school, how the kids would react to relocating, the stress of being the seller and the Realtor and all that comes with those titles, and feeling so tired and worn out before I even got out of bed in the morning. We decided to tell Porter and London about the move only once we started taking pictures off the walls and taking boxes to the storage unit. They were happy and excited, another boost to our decision.

Once you short sale your primary residence your credit is a tad bit bruised. That shouldn’t be news to any of you out there. (Have I mentioned yet how I am loving my private blog? Well, I still do.) So we started looking and looking and looking for houses to rent. We came this close to actually getting a couple and then they fell through at the last minute. About a week before our closing date we entered into a verbal agreement to rent a great house in Gilbert, only it wouldn’t be available for another month. No problem, Olen’s parents offered their extra rooms to us while we waited. A week before we expected to move in, the homeowner changed his mind and we were back to square one. But you know what, I didn’t even care. Maybe I was too exhausted and secretly happy that I didn’t have to see a card board moving box for a little while longer. So back to the house hunting we went. We went on drives every other day to view properties and never did I get that feeling that we were where we should be. So we kept looking. I think Olen’s parents thought we would just shack up with them forever. Ha! I kid. They were very supportive and accommodating the whole time, I couldn’t ask for better in-laws.

Oh! I have to tell you about how I pulled up a listing here in Mesa for a little house within our price range and in a neighborhood I already knew and thought we would like. We go see it and right when I walked in the door I’m like, “Have we been here before? How come I know this house?” Well, I walk in the kitchen and see these green-painted kitchen cabinets and know why. It was the Nielson’s house (like Christian and Stephanie Nielson) and the reason I thought I knew it was because I had seen it about a million times in pictures from her blog. I felt like I was totally trespassing on someone’s fallen memories and it made me feel so sad even though the house had a really happy essence. Anyways, it had a huge sliding glass door plus another single door on one wall in the main gathering room, and another huge sliding glass door in the other room and I couldn’t figure out the flow of the family room and the laundry room was out in the garage. But wouldn’t that have made an amazing blog post about how we bought the Nie Nie house?! C’mon, you know it would’ve been sweet. Okay back to my other thoughts.

Yeah, so Daisy was due to come in less than four months but still Olen and I felt calm that we would find our house and where we should be by then. I only really wanted to be where we should be at least a month before Porter started school to make the transition of a new school avoid the collision of the transition of a new house. Here’s where things get cool. My in-laws own a house across the street from the Mesa Temple that is always rented out. At this point in our story it was currently rented to tenants with a one-year lease and never an equation in our plans because of this. But, the tenants call out of the blue and say they need to break their lease and will be out at the end of the month. Hold the phone. Could we even fit in that house? It’s half the size of our last house and didn’t have any of the things we had been looking for in our searches. We’ve been there lots of times so I know how the house flows, but Olen says to me “Let’s just walk in the front door and if we don’t feel it, then at least we tried.” I say, “Worth a try.” We walk in the front door. I see where my couch would go, I see color schemes, I see how perfectly our dining table would look, I see how I could make the desk fit in the family room, I see my daughters sharing a room, I see pictures down the hall, I could see my family living there. For the first time in five months it felt like we were where we should be. We moved in three weeks before Porter started school.

Now here we are twelve full months later standing on the peak of our mountain looking back at the hurdles and steep edges we somehow maneuvered around and over to make it safely to the top. What a view, my friends. Not for a second can I take credit for the climb. I know that our Heavenly Father was with us for every step and braced the loose ground so that we could stay steady and feel confident in our task. For a house that didn’t have anything we were looking for, it has been the house that has everything we needed.

Once the sun sets the orange and grapefruit and lemon blossoms from the Temple grounds fill the air and we have been opening our windows to invite the sweet smell carried on the breeze in. This past week cars start lining our street about five o’clock to trek over to the north lawn of the Temple for the Easter Pageant. We can hear the entire pageant from our living room like we were on the front row. Our windows literally shake from the thunder audio during the crucifixion scene and when Mary’s Lullaby is being sung I grab my closest child and we dance till it’s over.

I’ve always resented that they say we use Easter eggs to represent new life or spring or a rebirth of the seasons. I know we hide those hollow eggs because of the tomb that was found empty on the third day. But maybe this year I’ll let it slide. This Easter more than any year before I understand how much a new life, spring or a rebirth can mean to someone and, besides, none of it would even be possible without that empty tomb. Happy Easter.