My husband and I joked about traveling once he retired and the dog died (we loved that dog!) We had dreamed about traveling overseas, maybe buying one of those one Euro fixer-uppers in Italy. We had fantasized about driving across the country, national park by national park, in an RV. But how do you get started?
Our daughter babysits for neighborhood families and tells our news readily, but not maliciously. She just does not have much of a filter. So it was quite a surprise when a neighbor asked if it was true that we wanted to sell our house. We have tossed that idea around since my husband retired more than a year ago, so there was a kernel of truth in it, but we still had three kids at home. However, when those kids moved on very recently and very quickly, we no longer needed a five-bedroom home. With someone asking us about selling it, there was not a reason to say, “No.”
This neighbor’s best friend has two kids and her parents living with her. As a real estate agent, she has been looking for something like our floor-plan to accommodate them all -- and wants to live by her best friend. So she came over and asked: “How much do you want to sell your house for?”
Back up to 2017. My parents, one in late 70’s and the other in early 80’s, were going to move into a retirement community in California near where they lived. However, it was far away from both my sister and me. Because my sister lives in a VERY snowy area, my parents did not want to move near her family. But my husband had been in the military, so we had a track record of moving from place to place every three years. ‘Unreliable,‘ my parents called it.
So we calculated the ages of our kids and the time needed to get them through high school and continuing education. We landed on a commitment of TEN years before we move. We promise! So they bought a house two miles from us and we lived ‘happily ever after’ -- until now, nine years into our ten-year promise. My father has passed on, but my mother is the matriarch of her community. We have to book in advance to spend time with her because she is so involved in everything. These nine years have been amazing with weekly dinners and games at either home, Bible studies together, outings, parties, surprises, events, all wonderful times together while the kids were growing up. And I actually got to experience my parents as people. And vice versa. Best of all, they know their grandchildren, the good, bad and ridiculous, and it has been a fantastic time having them close.
And now, with this opportunity, I could not say yes because I had made a promise to my parents!
My mom released me -- “This is a gift from God.” Not verbatim, but she said there was no way she could not be in agreement with the sale of our home when the hand of God had clearly reached down with this amazing gift. Of a quick sale. A fair price. No staging. No advertising. No real estate agents! How could this be anything other than a huge gift from the Lord? She loves travel. She gave me the gift of loving travel. And she knows this is the opportune time to travel – just after retirement before reckless hikes become difficult!
Mother was ready to put her house on the market right away to go with us, but we told her to HOLD ON! We wanted to travel – and do those reckless hikes - and how could we do that if she was homeless also? With a huge sigh of relief, she relaxed and offered her place as a home base for us until we roamed enough to find ‘paradise’ and bought another home. She is 89. Actually she is 50, but darn it – she is trapped in that 89-year-old body!
With my mother’s blessing, a sale happened so fast that a sign was never posted outside our home! We are now unhoused (the official California term) and unfettered to see the world. What does God have for us? Teaching English in remote areas of the world for a semester and sharing Jesus, I hope! I do not know! But I DO know that God sees around the corners, and I wait expectantly for what He has -- because clearly He has something up His sleeve.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Psalm 32:8
