Thank goodness the rain didn’t arrive until after today’s public open house ended. I knew it was forecasted, but I thought it was to be later. As chance would have it, the sprinkling started just as I was locking up.
Without a doubt, it was a great success considering the number of people in attendance, and for sure there was more than one group showing solid interest. I made sure to bring treats today which was a plate of homemade double chocolate chip cookies which were well received.
As chance would have it, a gentleman arrived with out-of-State plates who took great care in capturing as much as he could on his cell phone camera. I didn’t bother him too much other than answer any questions he had while going from room to room. I could tell the more he looked, the more interested he was. I even walked him out behind the garage and showed him the view of a private lower garden area belonging to the neighbor around the corner.
Just before he left, I asked him where he was from and what brought him here to look at my open house. When he told me his parents’ names, I was in near shock because I personally knew them, and even more so, his bachelor uncle who’s been gone for some years.
Oh how the memories of his uncle came rolling back to mind because both my grandmother and mother were friends of sorts, and oft times he would arrive at our home on a Sunday afternoon and get served coffee with either homemade pie or slice of cake which was almost always available on that day of the week. I think the gentleman didn’t fully believe me when saying how well I remembered his uncle until I repeated a form of acknowledgment he would utter that was very foreign to me the first time I heard it. You can bet he had no doubt I knew his uncle well.
I think after he realized I wasn’t making up a story, he opened up all the more regarding the very interesting life path he’d taken since he left the Mason City area at the age of 21. I’ll not mention his profession, but he’d certainly be the center of conversation if ever he’d start telling stories about his encounters with well known celebrities. Since he had to be up in Minnesota later this afternoon, he was forced to cut our visit short, but promised to get in touch with me if he continued to have a good feeling about buying a home here in Mason City. I’m pretty sure he’ll be purchasing the one he looked at today should he decide to return to North Iowa because he was very much taken by the whole package. Before leaving, he did say that if today’s home was located in a similar district in his City, it would likely sell for close ten million. Wow!
Another pleasant happening today was my having sold a home to the most delightful young couple I’ve been working with these past months. If you could’ve seen the joyful excitement they had after I handed them their signed purchase agreement. As the old saying goes, “All good things come to he who waits.”, and by their waiting, they hit a home run on the type and price of home they’ve been looking for these many months. For sure they’ll take as good or better care of the home, just as it’s had by the current owners over these long years.
I’d be in fat City for the rest of the year if I continually had such delightful buyers to work with. Whenever working with young people of their like, it re-instills hope in me that our young will be our future replacements who’ll diligently work at making our world a better place.
There was a bit of sadness with me part of the day when thinking about my dear sister who suddenly passed away almost two years ago. Today was her birthday and you can be sure the kindest thoughts of her were coming to mind. Without a doubt, I believe she was the most loving and forgiving of my immediate family. Being so close in age, Irish twins as a matter of fact, we were very much bonded at an early age to where we could almost read each other’s thoughts. Well, when puberty rolled around, and as what normally happens, we were more distanced, yet our core adolescent connections remained.
When hearing of her death, for the first time in my life, I went into a convulsive state of crying. Thank goodness there wasn’t anyone near because if someone had heard me, they would’ve thought me maniacal. I know now whenever seeing a newsreel of someone crying like that, it’s real and certainly not staged. Another life lesson learned.
Later this afternoon I drove out of town to a church Service, and while walking out I said to myself, “Now if only all North Iowa churches would conduct Services like that, there’d be all the more in attendance.” What really impressed me, were their music choices which were all standard and easy to sing, and believe me, nearly everyone was singing–including me. My grandmother always used to say, “If you sing in church, you’ll be praying twice.” I’ve never heard that expression before, but it stuck with me all these years, and if it’s true, I was praying twice on the birthday of my dearly departed sister.
Tonight’s one-liner is: No matter how prepared you think you are for the death of a loved one, it still comes as a shock, and it hurts very deeply.
