14 Aug Next.

It might have been the most arduous week of my life. Let’s see, I woke up Monday at 5:00am to give myself enough time to research and make notes for a very important conference call at 11:00. Once finished with my call, I moved directly into mad housecleaning mode. You see, the home inspector and the buyers were due here in 1-1/2 hours. My kids and I had just spent the entire weekend cleaning out closets, under their beds – all three were not only leaving for college, but they were also closing out the only home they’d ever lived in.

{ As your friend, I’d love to share the visual delight of that morning. Close your eyes. Visualize . . . the smell of soured souvenir beer bottles . . . tangled computer wires and game controls . . . broken pieces of cheap Ikea furniture . . . lip gloss with sparkles in it . . . old birthday cards from grandmother . . . poor attempts at fake IDs . . . a guitar with no strings . . . candy wrappers and moldy McDonald cups . . . stuffed animals they’d hugged since they were toddlers . . . dishes I thought were long lost . . . bank statements never opened . . . an old, broken cell phone with heart stickers all over it . . . nasty socks covered in red clay . . . beat up, smelly baseball cleats . . . } Funny how God gave me only 1-1/2 hours to get rid of all this mess. Otherwise, I’d still be looking at it, tears rolling down my face, wishing I could hold on to my three little babies just a little bit longer.

Needless to say, it was not the best time for an inspector. Nor was it a good time for a tour by the new buyers, especially when the contract included an escape clause. But it got done.

Tuesday we flew through a few stores, trying to get the last-minute shoes, socks, underwear and deodorant for college. I spent the afternoon in court with my son (minor teenage screw-up), then home to wash and fold clothes, sew on buttons, and starch and iron one pair of pants in case he decided to attend church while away at college. Right.

Wednesday, the car acted up on me. The brakes on my good ‘ol trusty Toyota were shot. In order to make the college trip safely, I had to deal with it. Thank goodness for Mr. Marvin who took me in at the last minute, no appointment, fixed my car just in time to go pick up my son at work. Bless his dear heart, he even went light on me when he presented the bill. { Mr. Marvin has been fixing our cars for 20+ years. He knew we had three tuitions to pay }

Late Wednesday the home inspection report was delivered. All 38 pages of it, and I had until Friday evening to make a counter. I had to stop everything and divert my full attention to it in order to sell this house. Over the next few days, I scheduled builders, air-conditioning folks, the electrician, stucco men, and insulation guys to come estimate the work. I propelled myself through crawl spaces, attics, took quick lessons on air-conditioning coils, R-15 and R-30. Although the language in those 38 pages scared the hell out of me, the actual work to be done was minimal. We delivered the necessary contract just under the wire, and just in time for a Friday night cocktail.

When did I do my client work? Each night between the hours of midnight and 3:00am.

The older two kids got themselves on the road midweek. Yesterday my youngest and I jammed all his stuff in the car and headed two hours down the road, to Auburn University. Once there, the whole family pitched in to haul in his stuff, get his bed made, hang his clothes, get him set up in his new dorm room. His new life at college began.

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In a state just short of a coma, I crawled into my bed last night a few minutes past midnight. My new life began, too.