Thursday, April 12, 2007

Re Lease

S igned a lease today. This means two things (sung to any tune you like). One: we have a place to live for next year. Two: all of the people who were mobilized to variations of sympathy ("poor dears"), rage ("why I oughta") and generosity ("we'll keep an eye/ear open for rents") can accept our heartfelt thanks and go back to whatever they were doing.

Pictured: A lovely property similar to one of the houses we looked at in recent weeks.

It's quite a relief to have this settled. In the chaos of the last two and a half weeks we looked at as many as thirteen or fourteen places. The one we selected is a first-time rental in a non-student neighborhood close to a P&C grocery store, the bus line (to campus and to Ph.'s H.S., which will remain the same), Y.'s veterinarian, and Barry Park (which has a duck pond, outdoor hoops courts, and fields where Ph.'s soccer team practices). The house has a 1/2 acre fenced yard, bordered on the West by SU's practice fields for soccer and lacrosse. Yes, unobstructed sunsets, even if we have only three cloud-free days in central New York each year. And the inside is cozy. It's in amazing shape compared to most rental properties in the University neighborhoods.

The only other thing to be said about it right now is that the house number combines the first three numbers from the Hugo's winning lottery ticket on Lost. Those numbers on the hatch? The values Locke kept punching into the computer? Yeah, those. We're moving into a house with a few of those numbers boldly marking the front porch. 15-8-4. D. and Ph. think I'm making something out of nothing, but if I've learned anything from two-plus seasons of acute attention to Lost it's that the numbers are nothing to kid about.

Continuing the subject of trepidation inducers, Ph. passed the test for his NY driver's permit this morning. The person administering the tests at the DMV gave Ph. a wink of encouragement and said "Maybe your dad will let you drive home." Trouble is, the Element is the only set of wheels we have right now, and Ph. isn't especially practiced yet (enthusiastic though he is about getting behind the controls). Might be my ultimate and irreparable shortcoming as a parent, but I've got some serious meditation (therapy?) to do before I'll be ready to give driving lessons. So, even with the housing fiasco of '07 happily resolved, if I continue to seem anxious, remember that Ph.'s carefree self will soon be motoring around these parts with me as his nerve-wracked passenger.

Posted by dmueller at April 12, 2007 10:55 PM to Ground Swell