My husband and I went over to 4020 today to get our remaining items. I thought I would be fine.  I wasn’t.  I broke down right when I walked in.

I know it is almost over, I understand.  I walked around the backyard and thought about all of the landscaping we had done.  I looked out at Lake Dimple and saw all of the ducks that have not flown south yet.

I went through the house a few times, opened all drawers and closets to make sure we had not forgotten anything.  My husband loaded the van with paint and miscellaneous items the packers could not pack.  He took down a custom valance we had made for our family room.

I started sweeping the kitchen and wiping the counters down.  I didn’t know what else to do.  The kitchen was my domain.  It was my space and I planned every inch of it from the pantry to the recycling bins.  And then I just started crying.

All that time we spent planning our remodel, living through the renovation, picking paint colors, picking out light fixtures etc. All to be just taken away for a frontage road that was added to a bigger project.  It is just so sad.  We took an old home that needed work and added quality and brought it back to it’s luster.  We re-did every room.  We had the original oak floors re-done, we repainted every wall and ceilings, we gutted the kitchen and enlarged it with custom cabinets and italian porcelian tile, I could go on and on. It doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter.  That is what is really sad.  Once condemed, it is the governments property.  4020 will be owned by the county on Friday.  The day after tomorrow.

You know what else sucks?  They do not have to pay us or our mortgage.  That was my issue yesterday.  We were trying to have them pay at least our mortgage by Monday so we would not have to pay double again (lease and mortgage), but they will not wire funds.  Apparently that method of payment is not in the rule book.

When you do not accept the offer, they deposit the funds (the last written offer received) with the courts and then you (your attorney at this point) request how the funds should be distributed.  These things move very slowly.  Our attorney has worked with the county to get a check to us on Friday and everyone made it very clear this is probably an exception.

Doesn’t matter at this point, funds will not clear in time and we have to make this months mortgage payment.  Not fair. In fact, we have to go pick up the check and then over night it to our mortgage company, more time off work.  Then our mortgage company has reimburse us the difference.  I guess we are learning the meaning of “red tape”.

When we picked up the kid’s from school today we asked them if they wanted to go to 4020 one last time, they either had tonight or tomorrow night.  They want to sleep on it.  Our oldest asked me what it looks like, I told him it looks nice, just empty.  Then he asked about his room and I looked at him and saw tears rolling down his face.  Not fair.

This is just not fair. Very sad day.

~Susan