With the hot summer we've been having, we've been spending some time on the coast. (Wait, I did move from Florida, right? Am I having flashbacks or was it really 98 degrees the day this was taken...in New Hampshire...oh, yes. It really was). I am not a fan of the heat at all and I've also never been a fan of parading my half naked chubby self for the world to see in a bathing suit, but even I got wet this day. This is Music Man and Maestro enjoying some boogie boarding in the New England surf.
One of my favorite things to do while at the beach is watch Music Man either body surfing or boogie boarding. See this extreme joy on his face? That's the look that is always there for him during that time. He can lose himself in it and doesn't think about anything else for a while. One of the things we share in common is our deep love of the ocean. It is healing, it is nourishing, it is rejuvenating. The salt water is the scent of home for us. We've considered moving somewhere more inland, like Vermont or upstate New York, but we always come back to the fact that we wouldn't be able to just jump in the car and be at the ocean in a half an hour or so.
The guy in the black there? His surfboard actually collided with Maestro. At least he had the good sense to feel bad about it, and he moved further from the swimmers and boogie boarders after that.
Little Red did actually do some boogie boarding himself, but I missed him in action shot pictures. But, he does like to dig in the sand a lot too, so this is also his natural element. Boy, I remember the days I could sit like that, not anymore!
We've been having a lot of fun this summer in spite of the tough circumstances we've encountered. We worked countless hours, and another 6 months, to buy a home. This one another rehab situation and we lost it once in negotiations when our contractor walked on us, but then got it back under contract when no one else matched our offer. Doing an FHA loan with a 203k rehab loan attached is so much work. If you've never had to do it, I can't even begin to explain the red tape and idiocies of the process. So many forms, which the contractor has to be involved in also (and most don't want to deal with), so much proving of everything, inspections, appraisals, septic inspections, the list goes on and on. I did this for the house we were buying a year and a half ago that we lost when Music Man was laid off two weeks before closing. I did it all again for this most recent house, then we lost it when the contractor walked and we couldn't get an extension from the seller to find a new one. Then, they didn't get as good an offer on it again, so we were able to get it back under contract, causing me to have to start the whole process of the paperwork for the loan all over again. And getting a new contractor lined up again. Then we found out there was a problem with the title and the day we were supposed to close, after 3 extensions, the seller decided to pull it off the market on us to fix the title issue. We lost time, the money we had invested in all the inspections and appraisal, and the interest rate that would have cost us $100 less a month then the one we'd have to have now.
We were crushed. Having to tell our boys that this house wasn't going to be ours either...well, it was too much. We'll just suffice it to say that this house was smack dab in the middle of 5 of their friend's houses and they were so excited to be moving there. They took it hard, especially Maestro. They just want to know that they are living here for good, that we're not moving them, that a landlord can't decide to stop renting the house we call home to us because their in laws are ready to move in. We just want to provide them with that stability, and yet...it's so hard to do. We had to fall in love with one of the most affluent communities in the state, where we are definitely NOT one of the most affluent families and trying to buy real estate here for us means that we have to go with a rehab to make it affordable. They generally come with a whole host of problems, and we've encountered most of them.
Between the house loss and losing my Mother In Law a month later, we're still kind of reeling. So, we've been trying not to process too much too fast and have been spending lots of time with the boys getting out there and doing fun things. Summer should be fun, right? We've decided that we're just focusing on the fun for now and as we can handle it, we'll let the sadness in to process that. We all do it in our own ways, and that is as it should be.
Wishing for you gliding on the salt yourselves, ~Peacemom
