Things are happening quickly...

"The house is listed," dh told me, as he looked at a realtor site on his phone screen on Saturday afternoon.  

It was the moment I'd been expecting. Anticipating. Dreading. Bracing myself for. I knew it was coming, and I'd been checking the site myself every day for the previous several days.   

We (dh, me, my sister & Dad) had met with the real estate agent when we were still there in January, not long after Mom's funeral, to show her the house and get a feel for what Dad might be able to sell it for. (Dad had hired and trained her, back when he owned the company.)  He'd told me last week she'd been there to take photos and measurements.  (In fact, she'd already been over a few days before the house was actually listed with one interested potential buyer, who promptly made an offer -- which ultimately fell through.)   

But even when you've been expecting it, it's still surreal to look at a listing for your parents' home of 42 years, the place where you lived with them yourself for a year, pre-marriage, and where you've spent several weeks out of almost every year since then with them, including 40+ Christmases, a couple of (Canadian) Thanksgivings, and a week or two (sometimes three)  almost every summer.   

The photos are testament to the warm, cozy, welcoming home my parents (and especially my mother) cultivated these past 42 years -- and the hard work my sister & her partner have been doing these past few months to clean, repair and declutter -- going through drawers and closets and cupboards and the crawl space/storage area (oy, the crawl space...!), taking things to the dump, the local thrift store and elsewhere. Some tchotchkes, family photos and other decorative items remain -- but the crawl space looked almost empty (certainly compared to when I was there in January!), and the tops of counters and cabinets in every room were mostly (oddly) clear of books and knick-knacks.  

In the photos, the doors to the closets were all closed -- Sis told me she's cleared out most of the closets pretty well, aside from Dad's stuff.  But she'd stashed other things in them to get them out of the way.  She sent me a photo of the closet in the room where dh & I usually sleep, doors opened -- stacked with boxes -- and informed me (kidding/not kidding) that it will be MY task when we are next there (soon) to go through them all before it's time for us to leave again (or else she won't drive us to the airport, lol).  It's not all MY stuff, thankfully! -- she doesn't expect me to take it all home with me (not that it would all fit into my suitcases...!). Some of it is just stuff she wants my opinion on.  But it all needs to be dealt with. 

The day after the listing went up, the realtor brought another potential buyer to view the house -- which resulted in another offer.  By Sunday afternoon, the house was sold. It's conditional on the sale of the buyer's current home, but there's already some interest in that one too  Projected closing date is July 1st, but it could happen earlier too.  

Tomorrow, Dad will get the keys to the apartment that he's leased in town. This weekend, a group of strong young farmers with trucks (clients of my sister's partner) will arrive at the house and transport some of the larger pieces of furniture Dad will need over there (a couch, table & chairs, bed, dresser, etc.).   

Dh & I are coming soon, and will help to continue the cleanout and keep Dad company. My sister will have some time off while we're there, and she and I will pack up some of the smaller things Dad will need (dishes, linens, etc.) and shop for others (an area rug and small mats, a countertop microwave, possibly a small freezer, etc.) and take them over to the new place, so that he'll be able to move over and settle in there after we all leave again. 

We're going to be busy!  

I'll be spending my first Mother's Day without my mom while I'm there. But perhaps that's a topic for another/future post... 

The closet in the bedroom where dh & I sleep, 
stacked with boxes for me to sort through when I get there. 
(There may be a few more added since the photo was taken..!)