Thursdays are the best..almost

Today, like every Thursday, I spent seeing patients at my private practice.  It is always an interesting day, although typically a long one.  It often makes me exhausted but also gives me the satisfaction that I am doing a good job.  It is SO very away from the teaching special education that I did for 29 years!  I think it was definitely time for a change.

For the first time in months...and I mean months....I actually have a bit of cushion in my business account.  I am almost afraid to type that for fear that some huge thing will happen and drain it before I can even think about it!  I like being able to do nice things for my family...which is totally why I work anyway.


Today our house officially went back on the market.  I have VERY mixed feelings about it and have to admit that when I have thought about it late at night the last couple of nights, I feel very sad.  I have always gotten attached to my homes.  I don't know what it is particularly, but it just happens.  I always remind myself of the usual things like "its the people that make a house a home" and "you'll find another one that you will love just as much or maybe MORE than this one"....but it just doesn't always make me feel better.
This home was a dream for me.  It is the home I wish that I had been able to raise my three children in, with plenty of room and a neighborhood to be trusted.  But that just wasn't meant to be.  
We moved on Halloween weekend 2009 during the rain that didn't end.  At the time we had been living in the Marriott Residence Inn for SIX weeks after the sale of our home and were really anxious...no, desperate....to find a house to move to.  This house was the last of five we saw that particular evening and I fell in love with it immediately.  Even with the "country" theme that the former owners had going, I knew this one could be amazing.  
At that time I was working for an agency where I was having a great income and things were "under control."  Of course, you know what they say about it when you begin to feel like that...God has a sense of humor.  Wasn't so funny when I lost my job 3 months later and went to one that paid 1/3 of what I had previously been making.  Thank heavens it was a job, though!  
I've never been through anything quite like that in my life.  I hope I never repeat it.  It was quite horrible in the details of it and, shall I say, very "personal" in the way it went down!
By this time, Steve had decided that he definitely was not happy with our move.  He had gotten used to riding his bike in all kinds of weather to work and home.  Now we were too far. The only solution was for him to drive the XTerra to my office on 18th street and then ride his bike from there.  He was not thrilled.
Steve is typically a pretty "easy to please" kind of guy, but with the financial pressure turned on full blast, he began to believe there was no solution but to sell this house.  We put it on the market last summer with few looks and no offers.  Then the holidays came around and I knew that I didn't want to have it sell during that time!  
As our financial situation has finally begun to recover, I have decided that maybe it will be best for now if we move back into Fort Smith.  It seems silly to live away from where you work, shop, go to church and all.  I think we were both too spoiled to living right in the middle of everything and being 5 minutes from it all!
So, now we start the search again.  Hopefully this process won't land us in a hotel stay again. I don't know that we would survive it.
I HAVE put in my two cents to request a lot with trees so I can enjoy the birds and squirrels again.  We'll see what the future holds.  You never know.
And it all began on a regular Thursday.