HEY, Y'ALL! in QUOTIDIEN

I'm going to just pick up where I left off 'over there'.

Couple of weeks ago, a neighbor from the $300K estates behind us, came knocking on our door.

You'll NEVER guess what he wanted!

He wanted to buy a portion of our property (we have 3 acres and he has an HOA) to build a very large garage. Who does this happen to?! I felt like a struggling actress being discovered at a diner!

For reasons I won't go through again, we cannot do that. The next day, he came back with an offer to buy our property for exactly what we want out of it. The bonus is that he would allow us to rent for 6 months while we set up at our new location (Springfield).

Hubby and I began to talk about what selling would mean. Where we would go. Close to his brother and family. A place we've wanted to live for almost 10 years, now. Now is the time, while AM is still in middle school. Selling means we can buy a much newer home - one with less maintenance issues. Moving means a new beginning.

AM will be 14 in just a few weeks. Before too long, she'll be joining the Marines. It's been her plan for 5 years. Marines, then somewhere in the medical field for her.

Before too long, our lives will no longer be primarily about our children - but about us. Now is a great time to start forming the foundation for what is to come.

And THAT is how the realtor wound up in our kitchen, yesterday. She believes we asked for exactly what this place is worth (our realtor) - and she already knows several people who are interested in paying that price for the land alone. :)

We called the neighbor to let him know we have a realtor and was he still interested. Because he had an earlier sort-of offer, we decided (along with our realtor) to offer him exactly ONE week to produce a contract that we agree with, or the sign goes up in our front yard.

And, bless her heart, she is willing to counsel us through the sale with this guy - for free. She will also be our buying agent.