EUPHORIA!

On Wednesday, deep asleep in the early morning post-daylight-savings-time darkness, I was startled awake by the phone. My first thought was, “Oh no, something’s happened to Dad.” Then, I realized that Dad’s gone—but for so long, I’d been expecting that call that it’s still programmed in me three years later.

Fortunately, this was good news. There was a sweet South African accent on the end of the line calling to say that the real estate agent, who’d just been round, is fully confident that she could sell the Emmarentia house quickly at the right price! I could hear the joy in Glen’s voice as he said, “She gets my price and I’m outta here!” EUPHORIA!! After two months of slogging awake in the cursed house, could it all be over so easily?! The news just gets better: it would pull Glen out of the debt that his divorce has left him saddled with, we don’t have to live in the house he shared with his ex and the BEST news was the agent recommended against doing the extensive repairs! She mentioned that any buyer will likely gut the house. I just hope she doesn’t show the house during one of the classic Joburg downpours. There’s no telling where the roof might spring a new leak!

Simone, the estate agent, explained that the mosque in our neighbourhood has made our area hot in a relatively slow market. Muslim families who want to settle in for the long term are anxious to buy in Emmarentia. Property values drop just a few streets further away as they are too far from the mosque. We have already seen the benefits of the Muslim influx in our little local shopping area: there’s a fantastic spice shop, a halal butcher as well as a great Turkish housewares store.

I was surprised at just how open Glen was to letting go of the house. He’ll miss his large high-ceiling office with French doors opening to the patio that overlooks the pool, but not much else. I kept saying that the house was too big for the two of us—it needs a family to fill it. Glen thought it was fine, but now that he’s been alone in it for nearly two weeks, he agrees. More importantly, Glen is very open to change. As he mentioned, selling this house coupled with applying for Canadian residency opens all sorts of possibilities for our future……

2010 has been a whirlwind thus far: we moved into the Emmarentia house in January, Glen was divorced in February, I returned to Canada in March and the house is now up for sale! I LOVE this pace!