Diary #380

Chekhov got back to Sunset on Sunday afternoon, which means the move is now officially complete; everything I own is now within a relatively compact geographical area of western Washington, as are most of my friends.  My cousin Alan will probably be up here within a few years, and even Frank and Olivia are considering a move to Portland.  That’s really incredibly fast considering that a year ago today, I hadn’t even thought of doing this yet; I asked Grace for her opinion about it around the first week of December, and my first text to my real estate agent on the subject was on December 13^th.  We whittled down the list of available properties during Grace’s Christmas visit, saw the property for the first time on January 3^rd, hashed out the details over the next few months, closed the sale of my Oklahoma property in late May and the sale of Sunset on May 30^th, and the first load departed westbound on July 25^th.  And after many problems, a lot of heartbreak and tremendous cost overruns, we’re done at last and one more source of stress is gone from my life.  Grace will be really busy fixing up the place; getting everything I want accomplished will probably take another year and a lot more money, but at least I no longer have a mortgage and Grace is close by.  And that is worth a great deal to me.  If you’d like to help fix the place, I’m running a very generous special until the end of the month; it’s open to both local clients and those I need to travel to reach, with different terms.  If you’re interested please email me, but please only if you’re serious!