Utter Shit

After the week I have had, there is no way to believe in god. I have the nicest clients (sellers) in the world. They are the sweetest people who spend hours and hours donating time to their church and its functions. And they keep getting fucked in this current escrow. And it is not the buyers fault, they are just the most trusting people ever and they have made some unfortunate decisions in the past and it is costing them greatly right now. And they don’t deserve it. Yet they remain positive and tell us “everything will be ok”.

I am weepy tonight. I feel a bit undeserving. Even when I KNOW I deserve it.

Tonight was spent with some very special (but different) clients turned family. I cannot refer to them as friends. In the time we have known them, we have become so much more.

I met them last spring – a referral from my company because they needed a school expert and the mom is considered one.

We immediately fell in love with the husband – who works for a large liquor company (bonus!). But in meeting his wife, and on the second day of showing property, we found someone we were destined to know. It is not often (or ever) that on the second day with a couple all four of us end up in tears at lunch – but with them we did.

Because they have needed to establish a life here, and because as much as we love them we know we cannot be their crutch, we have not seen them a great deal in the last 6 months. And knowing they are settling in and making friends and enjoying Northern California makes us happy.

But on Tuesday she called and said that she could not go into details, but she needs to know how much her house is worth. A mere 8 months after buying it. In a market that has not gone up in those 8 months. Of course, we panic. In our usual style, the mom and I volley ideas back an forth – “If they were getting a divorce, they wouldn’t invite us to dinner”….”She swore she would stay here until the kids were out of high school”….”The only place they could move is back home”….”He must have been offered a job to go home where all the grandparents are”. Bingo. (Which coincidentally, after much wine we sang with his company spelled out instead of Bingo).

Tonight was perfection. Great (better than great) friends, a wonderful meal, fabulous wine, funny stories, laughter and the true feeling of belonging.

I am so sad to see them go. These will be the only clients I ever fly to visit. I have already staked an invitation and after talk of St. Patty’s Day parades, I think I may have chosen the date.

I am sad. I am happy for them, I think that this will be a great move for them. But I am sad for me. I am losing a place where I feel more at home than I ever expected – and you just don’t get to experience that very often.