OK, I’m Back

~ Laura

Sorry for the abrupt departure for a couple of weeks. We had a perfect storm of crises that hit our home last week. There was Crisis One from Ian's school, which was disturbing, but was dealt with. Then Crisis Two hit, again from Ian's school, which was much more upsetting.

Crisis Two sent me into a tailspin. I sat around the house for a week playing back events in my head. This isn't happening to ME. THIS isn't happening to me.I was pretty much of a mess, until I called a lawyer. Crisis Two will still be lingering for another couple of weeks, but it has shrunk down to manageable levels of horror. Crisis Two is unbloggable, but if we ever meet in a bar and you buy me a couple of beers, I'll tell you about it.

Then there were the relatively minor Crises Three, Four, and Five. Crisis Three was a computer that wouldn't stop crashing. Crisis Four was a persistant bug that kept sending Jonah home from school in the middle of the day. Crisis Five was a leaky tube in the old Toyota that caused it to hemorrhage fluids. These crises would ordinarily be minor problems, but compounded with the first two, these evil ladies cackled at us and added to the general misery.

I'm still not sure how to put a frame around the past couple of weeks. I'll probably need some distance from these events to form a satisfying conclusion, moral lesson, or political rant. I'm still too close to things, though a few conclusions are starting to form.

One is that I'm quite grateful to all the support from friends. The notes on this blog, e-mail, and Twitter were a HUGE source of support. Not to mention the phone calls and offers for dinner. My virtual community and my tangible community have become intertwined and inseparable. Thanks so much.

The second lesson is slowly coming into focus — the only solution to an insane bureaucracy is an excellent lawyer. It's unfortunate and it's a solution that is out of the question to those who can't afford the retainer fee.

Well, Jonah is better. The computer geniuses are dealing with my sad Mac. A new-used Subaru station wagon, the official state car of Vermont and the liberal car of choice, is sitting in our driveway. Mrs. Lawyer will be getting a retainer fee on Wednesday. A new bathroom is being installed next week. A flurry of house hunting occurred today. There is still much chaos around here, but it is happy, hopeful chaos.

One important part of returning to normal is returning to the blog. I can't quit you, blog! So, I'm back somewhat. The kids are home this week, and we're planning on spending the day at the Museum of Natural History tomorrow, so I'll be slow, but around.

Thanks again, everyone.

Published by Laura

22 thoughts on “OK, I’m Back”

  1. Yay! Welcome back!
    About 4 years ago, I had a perfect storm of crises myself, so I know the feeling of absolute shell-shock. I’m glad things are getting better! Now, write about Egypt, Libya, and Wisconsin! 😉
    And congrats on the new-used Soobie. We are on our 4th (the first one was totalled–not my fault–and we drove the next two till we had to donate them because we couldn’t sell them.

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  2. Damn! i was in NJ yesterday and would have bought you drinks and listened to your story! bad timing. glad you are getting your crises under control.

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  3. Welcome back!
    “A new-used Subaru station wagon, the official state car of Vermont and the liberal car of choice, is sitting in our driveway.”
    What, no GM, no Chrysler?

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  4. I was reading the NYT article you tweeted on NJ/NY real estate, and I think this was interesting:
    “The number of sales per month in Ridgewood decreased slightly year to year, as it did countywide and statewide.”
    There’s a possibility that the price increase for Ridgewood is an optical illusion caused by a change in the mix of homes. I’ve seen this issue discussed on the bubble blogs. As I recall, in other parts of the country, price drops have often been preceded by a combination of higher average price and a decrease in sales volume–decrease in sales volume is the leading indicator as to where prices are going. I also wonder if looking at price per square foot might reveal a price drop? The pattern has been that while lower-end areas fall first, higher-end neighborhoods eventually fall too.
    I’m currently waiting out a high-end market that runs about $100 per square foot. The average for the city is something like $50 per square foot, while $37 per square foot is the current price for foreclosures.

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  7. So glad to see you back. We’ve all had crises over the years that take us away from the blog. Glad to hear yours are resolving. Congrats on the subaru—we just got one ourselves. And we are also getting a bathroom redone, starting today (two weeks late). I’m glad to have the day off. Enjoy yours.

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  8. Glad to see you back! Best wishes as you continue to sort through all the muck; when it comes to our kids, the Mother Bear instinct can be insanely forceful. Peace and strengthening thoughts also to your marriage as you wade through this together.

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  9. It was wonderful to see you pop up in my feed again this morning. My sympathies for all the crisis-related stuff; we’ve had our share, but not yet one that amounted to demanding legal assistance–I hope it never gets to that point (partly because I doubt we could afford one that would actually be any good). Enjoy the Subaru (we drove one for years, until we graduated to mini-van-dom) and the museum, and welcome back!

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  10. Welcome back! So glad for selfish and unselfish reasons. Selfish: I didn’t have to wait an entire month to read your posts and the great comments. Unselfish: glad that things, no matter how chaotic and stressful, were resolvable in the short term.
    Stress with issues with our kids – off the charts.
    Enjoy the museum! We’ll be making one of our biannual trips to NYC in a few weeks and will be taking the girl to MNH as well as a few other things.

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  12. Since NYC area real estate was mentioned, I’d like to briefly mock this story. Because, he may have spent $700K for a fixer-upper and he may now be getting “art” instead of money for rent, but at least he’s figured out that Craigslist has listings for houses.

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  14. From MH’s story:
    “When he went to see the 1899 building, he was equally undaunted by what surrounded it: the vacant lots on either side, the large expanse of overgrown land behind and the neighboring house that appeared to be collapsing.
    “He quickly made an offer, buying the 2,000-square-foot house for $760,000, and moved in.”
    Needless to say, he put in IKEA kitchen cabinets.

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  15. MH,
    It just occurred to me that there is probably a tax issue with the architect’s art-for-rent-money deal with the painter.

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  19. So happy to see you back, Laura! We have had these periods too, with the “perfect storm” of crises, and even though we get through them, the ripple effects seem to last forever. Glad we could give you some comfort, and glad you’ve joined us again.

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  20. I’m glad you’re back and very sorry that you had such difficult crises that resulted in the need for a lawyer — I’m glad Mrs. Lawyer sorted things out for you and your family!!
    Boo to the old car and nasty bug, but the fact that you’re in a house hunting flurry sure is a good sign that things are starting to look up again!
    P.S. I’m glad that your virtual and RL communities supported you so much during this difficult time. I was thinking of you.

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  21. I’m glad you’re back and I’m glad that Mrs. Lawyer was able to help. We’re so fortunate to have a good relationship with our daughters’ school (they’re both flourishing, in fact, and at the same school — that’s so exciting for me!) but it took a lot of time and work, as well as the ability to negotiate more than a few crises.
    Here’s hoping that your karmic load for the next decade has been dealt with. You deserve years of smooth sailing in repayment, I’d think!

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