Thursday Feb 16, closing day
Thursday slipped from hectic into frantic early in the day.
From seven in the morning until we collapsed at Jose and Carmen’s at ten-thirty in the evening, we worked without a break, under the gun the entire time. It was tough just remembering to breathe. We didn’t remember to eat.
We worked through breakfast, we worked through lunch, we worked through the afternoon, we even had the title company owner come up to bring me the closing papers, working right up till he came at one, then starting again immediately when he left.
We packed the final, final boxes, got a load to storage, broom-swept the house, and continued working right through the lengthy walk-through of the new owner and his workmen, steadily assuring them we’d be out that night.
As the real estate agents who had done the deal, Paul and Denise came over for the walk-through, staying to chat with me for a few minutes after the new owner left, despite their hectic schedules. As with Alex the night before, I knew that time was so precious and we were so busy, but this would be the last time ever that I’d be seeing them in this home, and we knew it would be the last time in a long, long time that we’d be able to stand and chat quietly. Again I was fighting tears.
By late afternoon we moved all our trip gear and boxes to Jose and Carmen’s. That in itself was fraught with anxiety.
Carmen, hearing our story the prior Sunday evening that we had no place to go when our house closed, offered to keep us at their house until we could leave. I assured her it would be no more than a night or two, but I felt incredibly awkward. We had only met them a few weeks before and had only spent two evenings with them, and here they were offering to keep us!
Down to the wire, with no time to get in touch with them, frantically busy, and of course, exhausted, we had no choice but to simply show up at their house and see if they really meant the offer, and ask if now was okay. I will never forget the puzzled look on Carmen’s face as I asked if the offer was still good, and told her we had our first load of things waiting in the van.
Much to our relief, she said yes without hesitation, as soon as she figured out what we were asking. In the next few minutes we managed to pack her living room and pool deck with our boxes, panniers, bicycles, and gear. Even after some organizing, the whole family had to walk around our gear till Saturday morning. Talk about moving in and taking over! That’s what it felt like for us.
They are so used to changes and adventures and travel it truly wasn’t a big deal to them, just another little adventure on life’s highway. For us, it was a major juncture.
Ten o’clock that night found us exhausted, hot, sweaty, tired, achy, and bruised, sitting in the near-dark on the cold floor in the nearly empty house that we no longer owned.
For her birthday in July last year Alex had given Chelsea a beautiful bottle of Patron coffee tequila, complete with a cork and a lavender ribbon. The last two shots were still in the bottle in the freezer. If there was ever a moment to celebrate, this was it.
With last minute trash and recycling still to take out to the street, last minute items still to go into the van for the final trip to storage, and the final things to get over to Ivar, we nonetheless took the time to savor that last exquisite bit of Patron and say our personal goodbyes to a lifetime that was now over forever.
Though we didn’t arrive at Jose and Carmen’s until ten-thirty at night, they were still awake and up and greeted us graciously. They offered food and drink, and made up the couches with fresh sheets for us. Their generosity and kindness were astounding.
Despite my concerted attempt at packing so we could find things over the next few days of being in transit, life had been far too frantic, and I couldn’t find anything in our boxes and panniers that night except the toothbrushes and toothpaste. It was beginning to feel like a bad dream I couldn’t wake up from. Hot and sweaty and all, there was no choice except to sleep in my clothes.
We didn’t go to sleep on the couches that night as much as we simply passed out from exhaustion. It was after midnight and we’d been on a dead run since seven that morning, after four hours sleep.
Friday Feb 17
Friday found us up before seven, nearly comatose, with an impressive and urgent list of things to do and no energy. When Carmen offered her incredibly tasty coffee and a comforting snack, it sounded like manna from heaven.
Though we still had a last load to get to storage, Ivar needed his van that morning, so we opted to wait until after he got back instead of pushing hard right away to get that last load settled.
I still couldn’t find my clean clothes and shower items, so we hoped to find what we needed and take showers later, before our farewell dinner at Rocco’s with the family, but after our errands and our trip to storage. We chose instead to relax for a bit and chat with Jose and Carmen about Mexico.
The time spent with Jose and Carmen, and later the girls at lunch, was inspiring to us. They are such good company! We got out our Mexico maps and scoured them, planning routes and getting information. We got geographical and cultural information, and found out more about safety issues, especially how to avoid the “zonas rojas”. It was incredibly useful and practical for us, giving us hard information we’d not had to that point.
Best of all, it felt fun and inspiring, making us remember why we are going through all the work and emotion of changing our lives so dramatically. We ended our session with an agreement to meet up with them in Lagos de Moreno next summer.
Panic set in though, when we realized how many errands we still had left and how little time. Jose and Carmen took us on a wild ride to Whole Foods and Costco, with us sprinting through the stores getting items we knew we wouldn’t have access to for quite some time. That part felt joyful. The panic did not.
We dropped our packages off at the Gallegos house, then ran down the street to get Ivar’s van.
We still had last minute boxes to get to the post office, we had a load of things to get to storage, we had to stop by Best Bike Shop of Delray to get a bike rack for our early morning trip to New Orleans, and we were expected at Rocco’s at four. Something had to give.
After texting Alex back and forth, we postponed the Rocco’s time to five and decided on the post office and bike shop stops. After all, it was Friday night at Rocco’s, one of their busiest nights of the week, so we couldn’t stay long. We figured that we’d be done with dinner in an hour or two at the most and could still easily make it to storage afterward. We were so wrong.
We did make the two errands by the skin of our teeth, but time for showers and a change of clothes was not in the cards. We were off instead to Rocco’s for our fabulous farewell dinner party. I was still wearing the same things I’d been wearing, day and night, since I woke up Thursday morning, thirty-six long hot and sweaty hours before.
Dinner was just perfect, everything we’d dreamed a farewell party should be. Alex was our server, so we got unbelievable service; the food was great; the drinks were great; the atmosphere was lively and upbeat but we could still talk around the table; and best of all, we were surrounded by our much-loved family. The time flew by on wings of laughter and conversation.
Before I knew it we had reached eight-thirty. So much for being out of the restaurant in an hour or two! We still needed to get some photos outside, we had to say final goodbyes, and Chelsea and I urgently needed to get to the storage place before nine, before they shut the gates for the night. The storage place was at least twenty minutes drive time.
My internal panic was eating me up at that point, afraid we’d miss that critical deadline, but I so did not want to leave! These were my favorite people in the whole world, all right here with me, and we may not see them for months or even years!
I finally grabbed Chelsea by the arm and started walking everybody toward the parking lot. Final hugs in a hurry, one last thing to say, one more last hug…we were still calling over our shoulders as we broke into a dead run for the van.
It wasn’t until we’d made it out of the parking lot and well down the road that we realized we hadn’t given Amanda and Denise a last hug. If there was anything that summarized how difficult life was for us right then, those missed hugs would be it. It’s enough to bring us to tears even now, some months later, when we think of how chaotic our lives were right then, so much so that we didn’t even get to hug them.
We comfort ourselves by anticipating the wonderful double-strength hugs we’ll give them, and by how much more relaxed our lives will be when we see them next.
Driving as fast as was safe, with the incredible luck of light traffic, we made it to the storage building two minutes before they closed the gate at nine. I didn’t even come to a complete stop before Chelsea was out of the van, running to the key code pad.
Nineteen minutes later we had finished putting the final load in storage, rearranging in order to make everything fit. The final photo was taken at nine-seventeen, before we rolled down the shutter for the last time.
It was a somber and tired trip down quiet streets as we headed back to drop off the van to Ivar for the last time ever. We said our last minute good-byes to Christal and Ivar, giving them heartfelt hugs for all the support and caring they’d given us for the last eleven years.
As we left their house to walk back up to the Gallegos home, we stopped and looked back down the street at our dark, silent, empty home.
To our relief Jose and Carmen’s home was still full of activity at ten-thirty. The girls had a friend over so the lights were on, the drinks out, and the conversation was active. We did not want to be actively moving and packing and organizing in a dark quiet house!
It was a major bonus to have laughter and stories and conversation, helping take our mind off our rather raw emotional state, never mind the plus of having their friend take a wonderful group photo of us with the Gallegos family.
At midnight, after everyone else was in bed, Chelsea was still busy, taking two hard drives out of their external hard drive cases while I packed, sorted and organized our pile of gear for the following morning.
By that time we were so tired and distracted, with our goods everywhere, that I had to put up a hot pink you-can’t-miss-me post-it note on the front door with cryptic reminders of urgent things to remember in the morning, “B vits, bags in back, 2 phones, refrigerator in back, water bottles”.
By one a.m., we were on the couches with the lights out, as ready as we were going to be for the morning. We’d still not had showers, but I did find my nightshirt and we got our teeth brushed. The room was spinning when I finally closed my eyes.
By five we were up, the house dark and quiet, lining up for heavenly hot showers and clean clothes. We tiptoed quietly, moving our boxes and gear to the driveway, awaiting our Craigslist rideshare to our new lives.
Headed off to an uncertain future, one thing was certain. Our lives in Delray Beach had just ended forever.