Our landlords put us on a month to month lease back in June when our lease was set to renew. They cited a refinance as the reason why and said that our payments may go up. Liz and I talked and had already decided that even if rent increased we would stay. Mainly because the thought of moving again is the WORST. Liz wrote them an email stating that we had just registered Gabe for kindergarten and McKay was about to start first grade at the school and that we were nervous about what they were doing with the house. Our landlords responded with a ‘don’t worry, you can stay until the end of the school year with no worry of your payments increasing’.
Then this email, the Thursday prior to Christian’s surgery. I emailed back to basically say that we couldn’t deal with it right now with everything else swirling. I asked when they wanted us to move and if they would ever consider a rent to own situation with us. I knew the rent to own was a pipe dream but I threw it out there. They wanted us out by February or March…holy shitballs. Que frantic internet searches of Hotpads, Zillow, and Westside rentals. We told all our neighbors praying that word of mouth would help in some way. We put in rental applications at multiple places and were turned down immediately because of our dogs. No one wants to rent to people with dogs in LA…we found that out the hard way when we first looked for a home here. We searched for homes to buy and tried to crunch the numbers every way possible. We still don’t have enough money to buy a house here without bankrupting ourselves. Anywhere else in the world except California and NY I could probably get a really nice house…in LA, I can buy a 900 sq foot house in a crap school district and still be paying something like 5-6k a month for it. WTF
Anyway, it turns out that word of mouth does pay off. Our neighbors one house over found out that our neighbors 3 houses down were moving to Boston. She said ‘you should try to buy that house’. I responded with an ugh, can’t afford it, but if they wanted to rent it we’d be all over it. The next time our two neighbors ran into each other she passed the message along that we would be willing to rent. I got a text on a Friday afternoon that said, “ran into Holly today, if you guys are interested in renting then go see them TONIGHT.’ I paid them a visit that night, we toured the house the next day (Gabe jumped on their bed in the middle of our tour), and the next thing I know Liz is drawing up the lease at work the following Tuesday. Phew! Crisis averted. We still have to move which totally sucks rocks. But, in terms of shaking up the kids world we are in good shape. We are moving a whopping 212 feet from our house into the new one. We will have the same walk to school, the same neighborhood kids to run around and cause trouble with, and the same ‘2nd Sundays’ where we gather with neighbors to drink wine and let the kids play together.
Right around this same time our current tenant at our 1st home in Baltimore emailed us that she had been laid off from her job and needed to move asap. She couldn’t pay December rent. Holy shit. I texted Liz at work when I saw it and told her not to check her email. She did not listen to my advice and did it anyway. So much stress all at once! So…if any of you Maryland folks know someone who would like to live in a 120 year old 2 bedroom row home in Fells Point with charm out the ass then please let us know! It’s available immediately.
In other news, we are gearing up for surgery #2 of the year for the Bisland boys…Gabe will have a hernia repaired on December 14. While it’s a much more common surgery than Christian was scheduled for it’s still a surgery which means general anesthesia. And they don’t repair hernia’s laparoscopically so he will have an incision. He has been super brave, making statements like, ‘well Christian had surgery so if he can do it I know I can’. But the night of Liz’s family birthday dinner he punched us in the stomach with his words. He had eaten a big plate of steak and broccoli for dinner. I told him how good that food was for him because of all the protein and veggies in his belly and how it would make him strong for his surgery. We all kept eating and he belted out: ‘well I’ll be dead’. I had to catch my breath. My first gut reaction was to scold him and tell him never to say that again. But I looked at his little face which was trying to gauge my reaction and I knew that I was seeing fear in his eyes. I pulled him out of his chair and into my lap. He curled up easily on me, as he always does, light as a feather. I asked him if that’s what he was scared of and he shook his head yes and buried his face into my chest. I was crying by then and tears were welling up in Liz’s eyes too. I told him our family didn’t work without him. That we need our silly clown that always makes us laugh. That we need his big heart that doesn’t quite fit in his chest, that his big and baby brothers need him.
We tried our best to reassure him with our words…’the doctor is really good at her job and she’s done tons of these surgeries’, ‘we went to see Dr. Heath earlier this week so she could make sure you are strong for the surgery’ ‘we had your heart checked recently so we knew that was in good shape’ and the promise I cringed making ‘Mommy and Mama won’t let anything happen to you’. I know it was a promise that I don’t have the power to uphold but when you are a parent, you do what you need to do. I don’t want him to be scared going into that surgery. It’s been 2 weeks since he made that statement and his words haunt me.
So next Friday Gabe goes in for surgery, a week later we celebrate Christmas, and then we move. It’s going to be a busy and stressful few weeks. But we will all be together, we have a roof over our head, and we are surrounded by an amazing community…and frankly, when you live across the country from most of your family that’s so important. Please keep sending us your positive thoughts, prayers, and vibes. We are hoping for a healthy, surgery free 2019 in the Bisland household.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year…Love you all, the Biswolds.