A lesson in disappointment

For the past year, we've had our house up for sale. With no bites, we decided to pull it off the market when the listing expired three weeks ago. Re-listing would mean lowering the price (again) and we just couldn't afford to do that. So, we basically accepted the fact that we wouldn't be moving, which was ok. We hoped to put an addition on the house and do a couple things we've been wanting to do, like install a new kitchen floor and re-do the kids rooms. It was all good.

Over the weekend, we bought paint for my daughter's room- lime green and turquoise - and moved everything out of her room and piled it in the living room and dining room. My dad was set to come and paint yesterday. Bless his heart.

Well, on Monday, we received a call from our realtor. He told us he had some people who were looking for a house like ours and asked if would we be interested in letting them see it that night. With piles of stuff in the living room and dining room, I was horrified, but what did we have to lose? We okayed the showing and made sure to tell our realtor to add our apologies for the mess.

So, the kids and I did a power clean after school and the couple came through in the evening. A half hour after they came through, we received a text saying we were in the top 2 of 20 houses they'd looked at. An hour after that, he called saying we were #1 and although they didn't want to make an offer that night, they were going to think it over and call him the next night. We held off on the painting, because we figured if they do want the house, they'd probably prefer white to lime green.

Well, our realtor called last night saying that the woman was going in for surgery, so they wouldn't be doing anything for the next couple of weeks. PLUS, they wanted details about another house they saw, so they no longer had their radar only focused on our home.

Sigh...

We'll see what happens, but I'm not holding my breath. We're going ahead with the painting and with our lives. Who knows? They may come knocking again, and they may not. If they do, I just hope they like very bright colors!

So, yes, I'm disappointed because I got my hopes up. We really thought this was a God-thing, as only He could sell our house after it's taken off the market! The timing just seemed so cool! My daughter is probably the most heartbroken of all. She really wanted to move.

But, I am considering this as a lesson in dealing with disappointment.

Just like in life, as a writer, I've had plenty of disappointments. I may whine and cry for a minute, but then I work through my confusion, shake it off, crinkle up (or file away) that rejection, scrounge up my determination, and move on.

The main thing to remember (and it's often difficult)...God is still good. Even when life disappoints.