Part seven: The city on the edge of forever

A continuation of the How's the house coming? saga...

By now, even the most hardy readers will be wondering, "When is this story going to end? How much can they endure?"

That's exactly what we were wondering, too.

More than six months had passed since we had first made an offer on the house. The fuse had been burning on this deal so long, we were genuinely startled when it suddenly took off like a rocket.

At SBA, the final hurdle was leapt right after the new year. The dollar amounts were finalized, the various paperwork issues were resolved and our most recent case worker finally said the words we had been waiting to hear: "I'm sending the request for a check today. We'll overnight it to the title company as soon as it comes in. You should have it by next week."

We called the title company and scheduled the closing for two days after the promised check arrival.

That night, dinner in our little FEMA Travel Trailer was accompanied with sparkling wine. My Darling Wife and Precious Daughter were near joyous, but I was unable to get excited. Not yet. It ain't over until it's over, I said.

My Darling Wife said it was my role to be the cautious, skeptical one, but she would not allow me to be the wet blanket that night. Our Precious Daughter also brushed me off and talked about how she wanted to decorate her new room. Torqoise blue and lime green, she said. My Darling Wife and I were tactful. "We'll think about it."

We hurriedly pulled together the final details to go to closing. I signed the insurance application and wrote a hefty check. We drew a cashier's check on our insurance proceeds for the down payment and our share of the closing costs.

We all gathered at the title office--the seller, the realtors, the Whitney Bank loan officer, the attorney and us. We passed around a few dozen papers and signed everything in sight. To my great astonishment and relief, all the numbers added up. The three checks--SBA, Whitney, and our own--combined correctly to the penny to complete the purchase.

On Friday, January 11, 2008, we once again became homeowners.

That night, my Darling Wife and I had dinner at the Red Fish Grill to celebrate, courtesy of a Christmas gift card, and I was certainly in a better mood.

No, we haven't moved just yet. We plan to refinish the wood floors, paint and do some other things to fix it up depending upon how much we can afford. I'm guessing we'll move in sometime in March.

The adventure is not completely over. As of this writing, Road Home still has not been able to make a simple amendment to our application. Just since July 2007, they have contacted me four times to schedule a closing, each time with the same error resulting in the wrong paperwork. But at least it's not holding us back anymore.

Meanwhile, we were relieved when our Precious Daughter said she had changed her mind about what color to paint her room. She asked if instead she could paint her room red.

We rolled our eyes.

And we told her yes.