Fire Fire Everywhere

Well, the move is afoot. I have been working my butt off for a couple of weeks, and now have come down with a bug. Fortunately I am so far ahead of the game, that all we have left is our major moving day on March third. The house is a skeleton, shelves, cabinets and rooms empty. My clothes and toiletries packed except for a few essentials, the basement and shed barren.

The tricky thing about this move has been the animosity and conflict coming from both ends. The news came three months ago from our landlord who we have had a great relationship with and is sorry to see us go. He is making room for his son to take over the property in an early inheritance and so let us know that we needed to move out. Brainstorming, Steve, my Mom and I decided it was time we move onto her property into a trailer that was currently populated by a friend of mine and her little girl. It seemed serendipitous and like God was calling me to my Mom’s as we have healed and worked on our relationship enormously, we can help her on the land as she gets older, and we will never have to move again as the property will most likely be mine someday. So as we had been given the grace of two or three months if needed, Mom gave her renter three months’ notice to be kind to all. Though our intentions were gracious, the news did not come welcome, and resulted in an enemy and total lack of communication. I was brought to tears the other day when I saw her daughter at my sister’s house and she was holding her lips closed because she was told not to talk to me and that I was a terrible person. I love that little girl very much, and spoke to her and my sister’s step-son explaining the facts of life as kindly as possible. I had spent many hours in the past watching this sweet young girl, painting, picking blackberries, playing with the kitten, eating snacks and going for walks.

This morning I was greeted with shouting and screaming in my direction from our landlord’s son who apparently has moved in early with his dad next door. He was shouting at the dogs and over towards our property. Just under two weeks ago we discovered that our landlord’s unpredictable, very large and prone to angry outbursts son was unhappy with us still being in our house. I calmly explained to our landlord as he told stories of his son that weren't too pleasant, that we had had a verbal agreement for a while that we would be here a little after the first in March. It had seemed to be a non-issue in the past. Our landlord seemingly pressured by his overzealous son, would not be quelled. I handed him $300 for the first week of March, and as he put in his pocket, I had hoped that this financial agreement would secure our home for a couple of more weeks. The morning resulted in the son coming into our yard, threatening us and the cops being called. Though by then the excitement had left, we wanted the police to be privy to any future situation.

My point is it feels that I am the center to a candle burning at both ends. I have been nothing but grateful and gracious to my landlord from the beginning, and had offered my help and caring communication to my mother’s tenant, only to result in feeling like no matter what I do, I still have fires burning on all sides. I am still grateful, however. The move is going well, there is a sun filled valley waiting for me on the horizon, and I have a loving family, husband, beautiful pets, and also a friend that will stand up for me in the face of danger.