Being a Grown-Up...

Y'know that house I've been posting pictures of? Well - I OWN IT now! Hooray!

Of course, since it was *me* buying it, there's no way that the closing went off without a hitch. Sit back and behold the wonder that was my day:

I arranged to have the morning off school. The appointment with the lawyer was at 9:30. I showed up at the bank to get the certified check, and the fun began. Naturally, I had a trainee teller, who took 15 minutes to write a single certified check. So I rushed out the door, already late.

In Atlanta rush-hour traffic, I now had 15 minutes to make it across town. Every road - and I am not exaggerating - EVERY road I traveled on had construction on it. Highways, surface streets, back roads that no one knows about - ALL OF THEM were under construction. Therefore, I arrived at the lawyer's office at 9:55 instead of 9:30. However, this turned out not to be as big a deal as you might think. You see, the power at the attorney's office had just come back on. The construction crew outside (see - you thought I was joking about the construction) had cut a power line. So the lawyer was behind already.

Now comes the really fun part. The seller of the property (who is also financing this deal) and the lawyer had thought they each understood each other, and it turns out they had not. Lots of boring/frustrating/bordering-on-angry conversations followed, the settlement statement was re-written TWICE, and I sat and did basically nothing for THREE HOURS. I had to call work and get someone to cover my classes. I developed a headache, which my migraine drugs did nothing to alleviate. I ate quite a few mini Three Musketeers candies out of the dish in front of me. Finally, an agreement was reached, papers were printed, I signed and signed and signed and it was done.

Now, in the middle of all of that, my mother called to tell me that she was heading to Pennsylvania, where she was going to have to take my 90-year-old grandfather to be admitted to the hospital for what we believe is bleeding in the brain. I don't know what will come of this, but of course, it won't be good. So that added a new dimension of drama to a day that had quite enough already.

All of that happened by 1:30. I rushed out of the office and back to school. I grumped and yelled and basically took out my frustrations on the last class of the day. I foisted my track runners off on the boys coach, went home and took a nap, and then got up and drove an hour and a half in MORE rush hour traffic to play in a double-header with the softball team I'm on. But hey - at least I got a couple of decent hits tonight!

Anyway. I sincerely hope that all of you have had/will have far easier closing days when you buy houses. As for me - if this is what happens when I buy a house, I'm not planning to move, oh, EVER.