As an update to “The Trouble With Underwriters“: it turns out we were met with chilled Champagne, not the guillotine :)

The last few weeks have been chockablock full of ToDo’s with not enough time to keep up with my blog, darn it. Now that I have a little time this morning, here’s where my head is at:

This week (and the last month or so) has been one of the best of my life, and I’m reeling from the amount of gratitude I feel for knowing I’ve gotten to experience full, true happiness before I die. My photography career is taking off faster than I could have ever dreamed of, I am surrounded by such amazing friends and family (for this I am MOST grateful for), my darling hubby and I are about to sign on our dream home tomorrow, and a new fresh year full of even more possibilities is about to begin.

I have had this nagging twinge of guilt for how wonderfully things have been going for us while the world at large has been going through a terrible rough spell, but after thinking long and hard about it I realized that all good times are fleeting. Just as I could hit the jackpot on the Powerball tomorrow, I could also lose the love of my life in an auto accident. I’ve come to the conclusion that being over-the-moon-happy when things are going well is not something anyone should ever feel guilt about.

We all experience good times and bad, and I just so happen to be in an upswing after spending most of my twenties struggling to find a path. The last 6 years were difficult for many reasons – though mostly because I felt so lost and without a compass –  but now, to quote good ol’ Johnny Nash (though, as a child of the Cool Runnings generation I prefer the Jimmy Cliff version. Ha ha!):

I can see clearly now the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright, bright sunshinin’ day

Tomorrow we close on Brake Manor at noon. There are no words for how excited I am to take on this new adventure with my hunny.  It’s been months of paperwork and roadblocks but we’ve made it through and everything has worked out for us.

Though it may seem silly, I want to thank all the folks who have helped us get to closing day: Jason’s wonderful family for being so supportive and helpful as we try to make this transition. They knew how much it meant for us to keep grandma’s house in the family and they helped us make it happen.  Thank you to John Polansky of CitiGroup – this man is a rockstar in the world of lenders. Never have I dealt with anyone  as prompt, thorough, diligent and kind as John. For anyone in Northern Colorado needing a home loan, we HIGHLY recommend John ….we’ve used him three times in the last 6 years and he has never disappointed. Tonya Brigham, of CitiGroup Title; this woman tells it like it is and was completely supportive of my mission to buy a house without using a real estate agent. She was so helpful as I learned about the process. Jason, my rock and knight in shining armor who has  been so supportive as I giggled and cried tears of joy one minute but then turned around and worried we were crazy for trying to do this the next. He’s listened to me gush about all the plans I have for the new house, and then hugs me tight when I worry we might fail…. he is, by far, the best husband a girl with big dreams could ever ask for. And a final thank you to all our friends and family who were so encouraging and offered additional shoulders to cry on and ears to bend about this adventure. Rest easy all, there’ll be no more house buying for a long time ;)

That’s all for now, I suppose. Jason and I are going to take tomorrow off so we can go do a little something to celebrate (and to relearn how to breathe easy) after the closing. Champagne and a carpet picnic in the new house? Quite possibly.

Cheers!

Lanna