Tag: life

My life was falling apart around me. My husband-of-the-time was having an affair I found out.  My youngest baby was very sick. At the time, they didn’t know what was wrong with him. In and out of the hospital, $150 worth of meds a month.  The poor baby couldn’t sleep laying down, I had to keep him propped in a bouncer or car seat to sleep. We were struggling financially with a foreclosure looming, and at times we didn’t know if we would be able to buy diapers. We had our electricity cut off once or twice. I went into a Walmart in South Carolina off of Two Notch Road on one of the few days I had money to spend on groceries and carefully kept track of everything I bought.

As I was shopping I heard the rain coming down on the roof of the building.  Then the thunder. I paid for my things and headed to the exit.  It was pouring.  My car was half way down the parking lot.  I debated on waiting by the door to see if it would let up.  I did for a few minutes but it didn’t seem like it was going to let up anytime soon.

I made the decision to make a dash for my car. My boys were around 2 month and 18 months old.  I got my my older son out of the seat and my youngest’s baby carrier and tried to get them both in the car at the same time but I had to put them down because I neglected to grab my keys out of my purse.

An older gentleman with an umbrella came walking toward me very swiftly. I’m ashamed to say my anxiety went up for a minute. I had no idea why he was coming at me so quickly. He didn’t say anything, he just lifted the umbrella over my head. He held the umbrella as I got both babies in the car. He waited patiently as I buckled each child in. He then held continued to shelter me from the rain as I loaded the groceries in the car. I didn’t know him and he didn’t know me. I do remember telling him thank you at least three times.

Even as I type this I’m crying.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought of that man. I wish I knew who he was. I wish I could tell him how much his kindness meant to me …still means to me. When I felt like nothing was going right in my life something happened to give me hope.  The “sunshine in the rain” so to speak. I remember getting in the car almost in disbelief that someone would do that. It wasn’t until  got home and thought about the whole situation again that I began to cry. That moment was exactly what I needed and it’s a moment I carry on with me.

Many things have changed in my life for the better. But that gentleman, that small moment in my life, will always remind me that even when everything else seems dark, there is always a light somewhere.

We bought our house a little over 7 years ago.  At the time, I had my two boys, my husband and I were planning on having one more.  We picked a 3 bedroom home. At the time it seemed like a lot of space. The yard wasn’t that big but it was big enough to throw a football around, play tag, and put a kiddie pool out in the summer time.  It’s a beautiful old house with a wrap about porch.  We bought it off the church next door.  It used to be the church rectory. It was built in 1908.  As we upgraded and made some improvements we stumbled on an old glass medicine bottle from a drugstore that no longer exists. We found glass whisky bottle from a distillery that no longer exists. We found a bible under the attic stairs and some receipts for rent from 1896.  (I’m guessing brought there by the original inhabitants of the house).  The electrical system was still knob and tube. When I’d plug the iron in the lights would flicker. I’m sure this old house wasn’t used to a big screen tv and multiple computers. So we upgraded the electrical system, got rid of the wading pool in the basement (water in the basement), painted, updated the bathroom and a lot of other stuff.

After having our 4th child 2 years ago, we started to realize that we need more space. Only one full bathroom means lines in the morning. Yes we have a working toilet in the unfinished basement but it’s not the most pleasant place to be. There’s a 4th room upstairs, very small and connected directly to the master bedroom. My hubby and I used it for an office at first. But when baby #3 then eventually 4 came along, it was turned into a nursery. Was great for a nursery but now my 2.5 year old needs a room that’s not directly connected to ours.

We were going to turn the attic into another floor.  Make it livable.  It was going to be the additional bedroom we needed. We even got an estimate.  The estimate was a bit higher than we expected. Then there was the fact that my husband wanted a garage really bad.  After turning the attic into another livable floor we were going to start building the garage.  Then there’s the updates we wanted to do.  Paneling on all the walls in the downstairs makes it so dark.  The hardwood floors need refinished. Some of the wiring needed rerouted (to many things on one breaker).

Still we were planning on moving forward with the improvements.  My husband said “You know I was thinking about the expenses. Until we turn the attic into a bedroom and build the garage, we may as well buy another house”.  I mulled the idea over for a minute.  I didn’t hate the idea but I really didn’t want to move. We have a good location.  The kids can walk to school, Dollar General only 3 blocks away for milk and egg runs, sometimes the local parades will go right past our house.   We thought, if the right house fell into our lap at the right place, maybe we’d take a look. It had to be in the same school district, it had to have what we wanted. If not no big deal we have plans.  I honestly didn’t believe that would happen.

It was facebook. Facebook, made us jump.  A facebook friend had shared a house listing.  The house listed as having 4-5 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, a 3 car attached garage and 2 car detached garage and nearly and acre of land. Still in the school district, close to my dad and my FIL, and in our budget.  The pictures looked beautiful.  We had a price in mind we were going to try to talk them down to.  We toured the house.  My husband and I knew we wanted it.  We asked them how much? They spit out a price right where we were thinking.  The rest is a done deal.  The movers are coming Tuesday.  It took 2.5 months to get here but it happened.  It’s everything we wanted and then some.

Still I can’t help but feel a little sad leaving this house behind.  We have great neighbors too. I’m gonna miss the bright red azalea bushes in the spring.