Deep breaths

Last week, our house sold. No joke, we’re moving to Italy after the holidays and arrive in Trento December 31st. My first thought upon signing the papers to put escrow in motion was that I wouldn’t be cleaning my house again. Awesome. No more open house days. No ready at a moment’s notice for potential buyers to drop in and inspect. No more toilets. But then I looked at the toilet this morning and thought, ugh, must clean. So while we no longer fold the couch blankets neatly over the arm rest before heading out the door in the morning, and I conspicuously left the toaster on the counter after breakfast, I vacuumed the carpet of bread crumbs last night and I’ll sweep the floor before Greta wakes from her nap. There’s nothing like a crawler in the house to put your plans of slovenly bliss to rest.

Admittedly, not having to clean was not my absolute first thought upon the sale of 2312 5th Street. My first thought was oh crap I hope we really want to do this because it is happening and I had made plans for next semester and I was going to start writing again and now I need to learn Italian and I should probably get my degrees and transcripts notarized and translated in case that’s required for finding a job and how much will that cost and do we have enough passport photos to give to the questura when we arrive?