August 4, 2014

Y’all Have a Lot of Catching Up to Do

“This has been the most stressful summer of my life” is the absolute understatement of the century. I haven’t had time to write, let alone do much breathing. In the spring, Mr. BBM was called by a recruiter about a position that sounded pretty intriguing. About a week later he had a phone interview. Within five days of that, he was flown in for a face-to-face interview. At the airport, waiting for his return flight, his recruiter called him and said he’d have an offer by the end of the week. I panicked as he got further along in the process. I won’t lie. I prayed the offer would suck. The offer did not suck.

In fact, as I questioned Mr. BBM on each component of the offer, it became clear that there was no saying “no” to it. We had four days to make a decision, to completely uproot our family, leave the home we built just five years ago, and the swim club that I consider my 4th child. We ran a swim meet the next day, came home and grabbed our bags and drive five hours to Virginia. I couldn’t make a decision to move us without at least seeing the place. We arrived very late at night and woke up on Mother’s Day in the hotel to what could only be described as a place with nothing to dislike. The neighborhoods felt resort-like, the swim club had great reputations and phenomenal facilities. The cost of living is less. The decision was made.

We began preparing our house to sell and told those close to us what was happening. In between staging rooms at my house, I spent a lot of time crying. I have my entire family in Pennsylvania. All my best friends are here too. You don’t just make friends like I have overnight. It takes a long time before you reach the comfort level we’ve reached with each other, and I was leery about starting the process all over again.

We went on a company paid house-hunting trip and saw 26 properties over the course of four days. We saw a few we liked but our favorite went under contract before we could even get a second showing. We left after those four days with no home prospects, and knowing our own house was going up for sale in only days. I am the type of person who needs to know where I’m going to land before I jump, and I wasn’t going to have that option. I asked Mr. BBM what school district do your kids attend when you’re living in the Homewood Suites? I didn’t want to go.

The day the “for sale” sign was going up at our house, we got a call from our realtor, that our favorite house was available. The deal fell through. We put in an offer and held our breath. Because the selling family was also a relo family, the offer could not be contingent. We held our breath as four showing requests came in over the next three days. On the third night, we had three offers, all with escalation clauses. Our realtor was as shocked as we were. We chose an offer, removed the contingency and got our house.

In June, Mr. BBM left for VA, and left me behind with three kids as emotionally exhausted as I was. In July, the movers came, spent two days packing our entire house and two days loading our entire house. The truck pulled out and we lived with friends for 6 days before we closed on our new home. I made the trip in record time with three kids, two cats, two hibiscus trees I refused to leave behind, and an unhappy mom-mom who didn’t want us to go either.

We have been in our house for almost three weeks now. We are adjusting to things, and are mostly unpacked. However, we’re feeling pretty lonely without our friends and family from home. We have much painting to do in our new house, and a lot of getting used to how over-the-top friendly Virginians are when they don’t even know you. This begins a new adventure for the BBM family. I hope you’ll follow along.