A year ago – last March to be exact – Eric accepted an invitation from Lucy to accompany her on a business trip to Seattle. Meanwhile, I invited Amy and Sebastian (you may call him Bash) to come and keep me company.
I feel compelled to share this part of the backstory because somehow it seems to explain the interestingly semi-miraculous events that followed.
I sweetened the “come and sleep over” invitation with a “yes, you can take the king size bed” offer.
So, Eric and a very pregnant Lucy (7 months) went to Seattle, while Amy and my Bash moved in here for the week.
As promised, Amy got the master bedroom and I slept in the “super-comfortable but freakishly smallest” bedroom in the house.
While there, I had a very vivid dream. It was very unusual for me as I’m generally not a big dreamer, and I don’t often remember them, but that’s not important right now.
I had The Dream, and sort of woke up in that (freakishly small) bedroom I was occupying and realized “I’ve got to get out of here! This is now an AirBnB!” By this time, I had also jumped out of the bed and it was all that activity that finally woke me up.
What on earth had just happened??
Also, I couldn’t shake how real that last “I’ve got to get out of here! This is now an AirBnB.” thing was. I in kept replaying it over and over in my head.
This dream was sooo vivid I shared it with Eric when he called me that night from Seattle. He said, “Hmm. That’s interesting.” But nothing else.
When he returned and we all talked about what was happening, he explained the interesting thing.
Lucy and Marc had recently been having some deep discussions about what it would look like if we moved in with them. (She shared all of this with Eric.) They have a massive house and she was expecting little Jackson #3 very soon, thus making them a Family of Five with Three under Three! At that time, Max was 3, Logan 1 and Molly had yet to make her appearance.
“Mom, we will very much need your help. And also, you could very much use our help with squaring your finances.” Full disclosure: Eric had lost one of his biggest clients which meant we lost 2/3 of our income. Lucy was helping us sort the fallout.
But let me tell you: living in California is not for the faint of heart! So we listened attentively (if cautiously) to the Jackson’s proposal:
We would move in with them before the baby was born and help with all of that New-baby-in-the-house crazy. And our home? – which, by the way, is only 10 minutes from here – well, we would possibly/maybe/what?? convert it into an AirBnB. Ta-da!
Picture me now going through all of the stages of grief in a weird and rapid cycle, maniacally bouncing between all the emotions in a fast-forward/reverse loop.
Denial! This is stupid and I won’t do it!
Anger! It’s that terrible client’s fault! I blame them!
Bargaining. What if we still lived in our house in between tenants and could still stay with the kids when needed? Also, did I really have a dream about all this?
Depression. I would burst into tears at odd moments. I can’t do this! I would walk around my home feeling like I was saying a final goodbye to a dear family member. (I may or may not have even called my doctor and asked for anti-depression meds, but that’s not important right now.)
Acceptance. I’m still not okay. But I’m ready to move forward and face our future, whatever it may hold. But, also, I’m still really sad about it.
So what came next? MOVING.
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