Now she knows too.

There was a big revelation last night. You know who is beside herself because she talked to her financial advisor; who told her things like “you can’t do that” and “you don’t have that much money”. And so while she cried and cried to her son, her son had no emotion (because he is amazing at boundries and also because he wasn’t sure if they were real tears and also at one point e thought for sure they were real tears because she was talking about how she she fell again and perhaps broke another rib and suddenly it feels like if her organs aren’t actually loose in her body then she isn’t breaking as many ribs as she says she has and that has been a distraction technique that has worked). Bygones. And then when her son shared that with me I said simply. “I know. “

Literally the only thing that has changed is that now she knows too.

I have been right for 14 months now and she only just now realized it.

So if we could go ahead and pick up the conversation from that night in her apartment (March, 2021) we could once again offer to list the townhome as is and find a buyer in a hot second and replenish her bank account and then she can accept that she lives in the apartment now.

And then… we can call off the general contractor because while we are used to being taken advantage of, I’m not interested in letting a contractor I respect do a bunch of extra work figuring out and going back and forth and getting prices and getting confirmations and waiting and following up….. because that level of busy work and constant effort that never goes anywhere is a contractors nightmare because it sucks up his time and he is never paid for that time. Should we even discuss the fact that she thinks this is fine becuase she didn’t sign a contract with him? NO. Becuase she absolutely signed a contract with him. That day S and I painstakingly went through the revised scope of work room by room, action by action, and then she signed it and I sent her home with a copy. (You know dang well I kept the original).

This dark cloud follows us. It feels like every second of every day there is something really really important that needs to be done… but we are powerless to do it. We are stuck in limbo. My absolute least favorite place to be. I am a results person. Get it done. Do it. How long will it take? Perfect. I have that much time I’ll do it now. The greater that limbo /waiting/not yet pile gets, the more uncomfortable I get. I overcompensate. I become obsessed with the laundry. It is always nearly done. Meals are prepped. Beds are made. Drawers are organized. All the things in my home are over 90% done at all times.

So what do I do now? Well, I need a number. I need to know how much she realistically has to spend on her house. From there it will either be possible to reduce the scope of work to make the core pieces livable, or it will not. And if it will not… then she stays put. And if she doesn’t want to live there she can certainly find somewhere else to live because we all know I have personally researched over 100 properties in the area and she is living in the only one that will allow her to chain smoke on the couch.

At the same time she won’t speak to me about it. So I can’t actually do anything. But sit. And finish the laundry.