Every time I turn around this year I am updating some familiy member’s address. Our family simply will not stay put. The urge to move has spread through the family like a virus as infectious as COVID-19.
It began with son #2. For the past 15 years or so he has shared living quarters with parents, brother, nieces, daughters or friends. This spring’s circumstances landed him in a one bedroom apartment all by himself. He called a lot during his initial days of solitary housekeeping. Then he began meeting neighbors, and the phone did not ring.
Son #1’s roots go too deep to consider moving. His three daughters however all sought alternative housing. Their moves kept son #1 busy during his COVID-19 time off from work. He helped prepare their houses to sell, packed and moved one and has two more to go.
In June, Granddaughter #1 lost a rental and needed to move quickly. She and her husband and three children settled on her in-law’s property while they look for something more permanent.
Granddaughter #2 once said, “One and done” and settled into the perfect home. Then twin sons arrived and they began to say “Three and through, We need a different house.” They began spiffing up the place. “Look at these before and after pictures of our house,” she wrote after proudly posting pictures once they finished painting and prepping for potential buyers. It sold shortly after they listed.
Initially they said, “We want to move away.” Then they considered the advantages of living close to the grandparents of their twin pre-schoolers and elementary aged son. They found a house in a nearby neighborhood where they will move in August.
Granddaughter #3 from that family announced her fourth pregnancy and that the time had come to leave their small, starter home an hour away from family. After quarantine at home began, she wrote, “I am not working. I am painting, cleaning and packing.”
“Wears me out just reading about it,” I replied.
I perked up when Son #5 called, “Hey, you said something about having the kids come to your house. Can they come and stay with a couple weeks while we work on getting the house ready to sell?” They have decided they want a larger house in a better school district.
“Certainly! Bring them on down!” I began planning fun activities with the limitations imposed during the COVID-19 closings. His three visited a week. The next week my daughter’s four children joined them for a week of Cousin Camp. Meanwhile, Son #5’s wife packed, cleaned, prepped the house for presentation. The first week it was on the market the realtor called, “you have an offer at the price you asked.”
Last week, my son updated us, “the buyer did a walk through and made a list of things to fix. Sophie was accepted at the school where she interviewed. And we signed a contingency contract for a house in a better school district.”
He sent me a link to the realtor’s virtual tour of the house.“Wow! It looks really nice. Lots of space.” They hope to move in August.
Next week we will see Granddaughter #2 and Son #5 and their families. If moving fever is a virus we need to wear masks to avoid infection. After almost 40 years in the same place, we may be ripe for the fever to move into a smaller house, closer to family. The thought of all the work moving entails should work as a vaccine. From my La-Z-Boy that looks like way too much activity to even consider.