The Homeless Thing

The house is listed.

It has been a long, torturous road. But we are moving forward. Kind of.

House didn't get listed until Friday morning. Open House yesterday.

Carol and I trust no one when it comes to our cats. There are a lot of inconsiderate fools - cretins, really, in this world, who would pay no attention to open and closed doors. Result? Our cats get outside, somebody dies.

We had to get the hell out of the house to make way for the Open House - we took the cats with us.

Packed up the litter box, water bowl, food bowl, blanket, and rolled on down the road. Ran an errand or two then set up camp 5 minutes from the house.

It was kind of fun really. We parked and let them out of the car carriers to roam around the car. Windows down a touch, sunroof open a touch, Carol in the back seat with her newspaper, me in the front with a book.

Emmy Lou had a blast, Patsy was a bit anxious.

It was a good experience - gave us a feel for what it will feel like to be homeless, if that becomes an eventuality. It was quite cozy.

Parked in a park 'n ride, pretty much alone for an hour and a half. Someone pulled up right next to us for the last half hour. I was amused to wonder what they were thinking to see Carol in the back, me in the front, cats roaming around. I hadn't shaved in 4 or 5 days.

Kept expecting the cops to show up.

We know what we are dealing with. Homeless people refuse to live in our house. But you can't help but be hopeful. You bust your fucking ass to get the house ready, you make the emotional investment to put it on the market, you clear out of the house for a couple of hours, and you wonder.

Hundreds of people viewed the listing in a very short time, a dozen or so "saved" it - we didn't know what to expect.

Got home - the realtor said only one couple came by. One. Might mean nothing. Might mean everything.

We were tired. I was generous enough to give my disease to Carol, although she didn't have it as bad as me because everybody knows the husband always gets sicker. We were both sick pretty much all week, which made getting the house in order a bit tougher.

The cats were tired too. We all spent the rest of the day chilling, like lumps of flesh waiting to be carved up for dinner.

The For Sale sign is at the end of the driveway. Very strange.

We are off balance. Don't know what to expect from here. Been 36 years since the last time we sold a house.

Pretty big deal, though. A major life transition on the way.

Rolling the dice, baby.

At least we know we got the homeless thing down.