Last month marked the end of an era for me . . .
This was my first home. I bought it brand new and picked out everything myself: floorplan, window coverings, carpet, linoleum, cabinets, countertops. I moved in Christmas Eve day of 2003. I lived in this home for over 18 years, more than a third of my life and longer than I've lived in any other home. I have so many wonderful memories made in this house, lots of laughter and fellowship with friends, and quiet moments of peaceful solitude. There are also some pretty terrible memories lingering there that I am not sad to leave behind. This is a bittersweet time but I'm also so excited to move on to the next chapter of my life.
I want to thank everyone who has helped me get to this point:
First and foremost to my good friend and real estate agent Carey Pinson. Thank you for your encouragement in 2019 to keep the home when all I wanted to do was give it away. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have had a home left to sell. I was at a very low place back then and I was emotionally spent. I didn't believe I had the energy or the desire to do the work that needed to be done to make the home livable again after almost a decade of neglect and outright destruction. It was so run down at that point it frightened me and it was very difficult for me to live there. I couldn't imagine I'd ever be able to make things right again and I really thought the best thing was to let it go and move on. You helped me believe that with lots of love and big dose of elbow grease it could be beautiful again and you were right. With the unwavering help of my parents and many friends, I was able to return it to a comfortable and beautiful sanctuary that I enjoyed living in. It was an emotionally, mentally, physically, and financially draining process and at the same time strangely cathartic, healing, and soul cleansing. And then last Fall you helped me again, preparing it to bring to market. You stuck with me through a very difficult and challenging five months. Because of you, I'm now on my way to my new life and another family is enjoying their new home. I'll never be able to thank you enough for all you've done for me professionally and personally. I'm so blessed and grateful to call you my friend 💖
I feel so much gratitude to all the people who have helped me over the past two and a half years in my efforts to repair, restore, and renew my home (and in the process, my heart and soul):
To Lindy Dunaway and Joe Christensen for visiting me the first weekend I returned to my home in August 2019. Thank you for walking me through a few minor fixes so I could have things like running water in my guest bathroom and a functioning water and ice dispenser in my refrigerator. Mostly, thank you for being there for me at a very scary time when my brain wasn't working so great and I needed someone to tell me I was OK, everything was fixable, and it would all work out.
To my parents who started in September of 2019 (and never stopped) helping me clean up the unbelievable mess and make the home livable again. We cleaned, scrubbed, rented industrial carpet shampooers, painted, sorted through junk, and more. I appreciate your encouragement and your nudging at times when all I wanted to do was stick my head in the sand and ignore the difficult work that needed to be done. When I wanted to put it off because it hurt to deal with, you kept me on track and helped get it back to a place where I felt safe and comfortable so that I didn't have to live in the chaos any longer than was necessary.
To my parents and Steve Stangland who helped me the second weekend of January 2020 clean out the home, shed, and yard of all the junk and garbage and make multiple trips to the dump. You helped me sort through and purge so much stuff and kept me on track when I, again, wanted to stick my head in the sand rather than go through all those things that, for various reasons, hurt to look at. I still can't believe we hauled out over 2,000 pounds of junk, not including appliances and electronics. That still blows my mind.
To the crew that came the weekend of Memorial Day 2020: My parents, Roger Rynearson, Steve Stangland, Allie Stangland, Donna Jones, Laaura Bazzani-Cash, and Madi Sample. You collectively replaced one third of the subfloors and prepped the entire home for new floor coverings throughout. You also prepped sheetrock for replacement, gutted the guest bathroom, replaced both toilets, prepped one of the guest rooms for electrical repairs, painted every room (including ceilings), and cleaned up a ton of mess. Thank you to Roger for connecting me with Ukiah Flooring Company who laid the new floor coverings ~ I LOVE that floor!!
To Chuck and Kellie Tucker who cleaned, repaired, and repainted the exterior of the house in July 2020. You did an amazing job!
To Nick at Roto Rooter who in December 2020 installed the new vanity, sink, and faucet in my guest bathroom and repaired my kitchen plumbing.
To Jose "Lupe" Gonzalez who replaced all the fencing at the end of the driveway and front side of the house (including installing beautiful new gates) in addition to rejuvenating and maintaining my front and back yards. Lupe is the best gardener ever. If you are in need of a great gardener, his business card is the last of the photos below.
To Gayland "Otto" Ott who replaced 90% of my interior doors and doorknobs.
To Chuck Tucker who installed all my new baseboards.
To my parents who have been helping me sort, pack, and cart things to storage since September 2021. I'm so grateful to have had help with this colossal job little by little over a few months rather than all at once in the last couple of weeks.
To Carey Pinson and Adam for hauling items to the donation site and the dump that were too large to fit in my car.
To my two girlfriends (you know who you are) who helped me on my U-Haul moving van day with the giant chore of moving of all my large items. I couldn't have done it without you ~ you guys were absolutely amazing! I'm so proud of us for doing it all ourselves 💪 And we had fun, despite all the bruises and scratches 😃😊
As always, I can never express enough thanks and gratitude for my parents. They are forever my rock, always there for me in every way. They have been by my side every single step of the way. They helped me get into the home when I started the purchasing process in Fall of 2003, helped me every year I lived in it, helped me prep it for sale, and were by my side as I worked on selling it. When my new home comes along, they will help me with that too. And thank you for letting me crash in my old bedroom while I am in between homes. I am the luckiest daughter in the world to have been blessed with the most loving, supportive, encouraging, generous, fun people as my parents. I'm so grateful they are mine and I'm so blessed that we are good friends as well as family.
Here's to the next chapter of my life. I'm looking forward to seeing how my future unfolds.
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