Home2 Sweet Home

FYI: I am going to review some companies that were absolutely amazing in this post, of which I am getting no incentives from. That’s how fabulous they were!

In February-ish, my parents and I started talking about how it would be nice to move closer to my brother and his family, and also our many doctors. Our first move was for this same reason, but since the highway has gotten whack- always under construction, and traffic is always backing up. We had talked about this about a year ago, when we found out there was going to be a neighborhood built, like the one we were currently in, within five-ish minutes of my brother’s house. This development was just clearing lots and selling them. Almost to the day a year later, all the lots were sold. I can’t say I blame the people, it was prime location. However, my niece and nephew are getting older, and my parents and were getting fatigued by being on the road, back and forth to many appointments. So we pressed on and kept looking at neighborhoods like the one we were in, with my brother’s help. We quickly learned that once one of these 55+ community houses went up on the market, it was gone within 24-28 hours. So we had to move fast when we saw the one we wanted.

One Saturday my dad found one early in the morning, we were looking at it my lunch with my brother and niece, and they were making an offer by dinnertime. Praise Jesus!!! I don’t like moving, but I really don’t like having to look at house after house. This house was basically the same floor plan as our current house, just a wee bit smaller.

Now, the biggest challenge was going to be to sell our house we were in, without showings or open houses, due to health and low immunity levels. No showings, no open houses, no hassles, sound familiar? Mark Spain Real Estate. The absolute best case scenario for us in this time of our lives. Seriously, we had one amazing realtor and one inspector come to our house, that’s it. They handle the offers and presented them to my parents, and they chose to accept the one they wanted. The one thing we just had to figure out was closing on the sell and the closing on the buy would be at least a month apart.

We needed to find excellent movers who offered storage and a nice extended stay hotel.

I cannot say enough about Carolina Movers! They literally inventory every box, every piece of furniture, before loading. We packed all of our boxes, but they can do the whole move if you need them too. They are all certified movers, very professional, very careful, details mattered. They stored our whole move for over a month. We had to change our moving date a couple of times, and they did so with grace. Everything was done with EXCELLENCE!!!

Now, for where we laid our roots for 45 days. It began as 29 days, but we didn’t quite gage what needed to be done before we could actually move in. If you have been reading for a while, you know that I used to do Southern Home Shows in North Carolina. While doing these shows, we became fans of Hilton/Hampton Inn. We don’t travel that much anymore, but if we do, you will most likely find us at a Hampton Inn. Last year when our water was contaminated, we journeyed up to a Hampton Inn near Duke because my mom had an appointment that weekend and we thought we might as well get a good nights rest and clean ourselves up a bit. Well, this same hotel also had the extended stay, Home2, connected to it. We made note of that, because we have had multiple stays at the other hotels near Duke hospital, and they are not so grand. Who knew we would be back so soon?

My family and I have always enjoyed hotels. They are fun and exciting, if you make them to be. After we survived the hotel arson fire, we just became more aware of stairs, what level we stayed on, etc. Yes, I am more cautious, but that is in any building or home I am in from now on. So by no means am I fearful of hotels, which is often an assumption when I speak about the hotel fire. A fire can happen anywhere.

We have packed and strategized for a two and half week stay before when I was doing shows. But this time, was completely different! This was like bare necessities, plus everybody’s medicine, machines, and any emergency gear. We did it though! It did take 2 cars though, but we did it!

Home2/Hampton Inn was absolutely phenomenal! Breakfast, cookies in the afternoon, many days of GrubHub deliveries. When we needed to extend our stay, it was the weekend of all the graduations plus Mother’s Day. The hotel was packed! We had to move rooms, but only 3 doors down. I mean, really, they were fabulous!!!

As we walked out of the room for the last time, I looked at my mom and said, “Is it okay that I feel like I might cry?” Literally, that’s how much it felt like another home. I felt safe. It’s a peculiar thing that began to manifest itself inside my soul when Lucy ran ahead. Home. It can’t be defined by things. My home is with my people – it will always be somewhat here and a whole bunch ran ahead. And there is a peace there- Jesus gives me peace.

Life Book of the Week: Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs, by Tomie DePaola