Call me superstitious....

I would hate to jinx anything. Things are slowly falling into place. I feel much better now knowing that our new apartment is secured, and ready to roll. The temporary housing has been good, but let's face it, it is not home. No matter how much it has all the things a home can offer you, it isn't home. I have had a hard time getting comfortable there which I am sure shows. So I am looking forward to finally getting in our own space and relaxing on our couch, and bbq'ing on our own grill. Not to mention sleeping in my own bed with my own sheets and pillows. I think the older I get the more I am uncomfortable I am with change. Which is ironic because I live my life lately with constant change. I hope that we can finally put some roots down. Maybe this isn't our forever home, but it would be nice if it could feel more like a forever home than not. You know what I mean?

The leasing company we are using seems to be really good so far. I met the lady today that I have been working with on the phone. She was very nice and offered to help us in anyway with regards to the new place. It isn't a detached house the way we wanted. But it is the next best thing particularly given the places we saw before we found this one. We still have an upstairs neighbor who from what I get from the leasing company is a bit different but they are familiar with her, So that is reassuring in someways. My biggest complaint about our last place was we had a different kind of neighbor below us who would complain about everything we did, and it seemed like the landlord knew this was the case but always talked to us about it, instead of him. Such as our toaster was too loud, ok I am exaggerating a bit, but that is what is seemed like at times. It would be nice if this place worked out for us for the next couple of years while we decide to buy or not in the area. Wow that feels strange to say we are going to buy. We like to sit on things for a while and then make them happen.

I had a real estate agent take me around to look at few places last week and she took me to some terrible places, knowing I wouldn't want to rent them. But it was her ploy to get us to buy, She definitely gave me the hard sell. There was one place that was a duplex that had lots of potential. She was quick to point out that we would fall in love with the neighborhood and the bad part was we couldn't afford to buy there when we were ready. That's special. She then proceeded to tell me I ought to get a damn good job, if I wanted to buy here. Those were her exact words. I don't think she realized how fragile I was at that moment. Not that I think she would have used kid gloves but maybe she would have not been quite so blunt. Later that night we had an appointment to see the place we decided on and another place. I took Paul on a drive by the duplex and he liked it but didn't love it. So we met with this leasing company, and while we waited for the agent to show, (a different one) the neighbors were out walking and said hello to us. When the agent arrived and opened the door to the place I knew immediately it was "home". I was worried what the rest of the place would look like, cause I had learned earlier that day don't be fooled by your first impression. The rooms are smallish but these are old homes around here, so the rooms are gonna be small compared to what you would prefer but you can still work it out. The more I saw the more I liked it. I was watching Paul's poker face trying to see what he thought. I knew we were both hooked. As we talked with the agent she was telling us how out of all her place she felt this one was best suited for us. I had to agree with her. She new almost everyone on the street, and was telling us how long people have lived there . It seemed like those how lived there even in our place stayed for a while. She said the last couple that lived there moved because they bought a house, which is kind of how we would like to write our chapter.

There was still once place that was four block from the university that we were too look at. Even though we were pretty sure we knew we wanted this one. It was a detached house, and the lady lives in the UK now and is renting the house and was really pushing for us to live in her house which we questioned to begin with but worth taking a look. She use to be a professor at the University at one time. We met her neighbor at 9pm to show us the place. We walked in and before the lights were turned on we knew we weren't going to take it. It smelled of human urine. She had three grad students living there and from the look of it, they took off pretty quick. The backyard was overgrown and was set up for beer pong. Blinds were broken, there was a nest of some kind in the kitchen window. You could tell the neighbor was really embarrassed by the sight. We kept looking around just be polite, but it was bad. Hands down we got a good place in the end, even if the neighbor is a bit something or other.

Yesterday was a holiday here for Memorial Day. Paul and I decided to take a drive and see where we ended up. We started driving North against the holiday traffic. We stopped at a gas station, and saw signs for Mount Pellier. Which was the home of James Madison who was the 4th president and had a hand in writing the constitution before his death. So we followed the signs and it was awesome. First stop was an old railroad station, which was restored and it had a "Whites" and "Colored" waiting rooms. Once again history hits you in the face. This was the case up until 1960, that wasn't that long ago. Makes you sick to your stomach to think about it. We went inside and the vast differences in the waiting rooms was unbelievable. The one for Blacks was very small and had a very tiny heater. The Whites was huge, and had a post office, and phones. I have photos and will post later. Old newspaper clippings were on each wall. I can't describe what I felt sitting on the bench in the "Colored" only waiting room. It makes you sad and heavy hearted to think people are treated like animals, or in most cases animals were treated better.

From there we made it to Madison's Plantation.
The tour was awesome. Sadly you can't take photos inside. But they are in the middle of restoring the place. It was later sold to the Dupont's who were the wealthiest and prestigious family of the industrial age, and when the last Dupont heir died in the 80's she left the mansion to the historical society. The were saying when they started restoring the mansion to Madison's time, they were looking for clues as to how it would look and we are talking 1700's, the found a mouse nest that had bits of wall paper and fabrics and papers with James Madison's hand writing on it and used that to help determine what the place would have looked like. It was amazing. There are markers to show where his slave houses were on the property. It was said the Madison was against slavery, but at the time had 100 slaves working on his plantation. The guide made a good point and maybe this is what people tell themselves to heal their own guilt but, at the time if Madison freed his slaves they would have had to leave Virginia immediately. Where would they go? Slavery was legal, and most of these people where 3rd generation Madison slaves. They could have gone back to Liberia but they didn't know that country and the truth is. They would have likely been caught by someone else and possibly murdered or had a worse existence. Like I said I half wonder if this is what they say to make it appear more humane that we treated other humans like this. Let's make it look like we did these innocent people a favor. It makes you angry either way. We walked the grounds and visited the Madison family cemetery and the slave cemetery which was located just further down the property to pay our respects and took our time coming back. It was a beautiful day and a reminder we are waist deep in some serious history here. Before we got to far though we found on a map a Confederate Civil War Camp was near by. We pulled over and took a short trek in the woods and found the location. The feeling you got there was cold, and sad, still very cool to see, which wasn't much obviously just a small outline of where the campsite were once located, and flags where archieolgists here setting up to find artifacts.

I haven't made it to the Ghost walk yet. That is next on my agenda. There was one this past weekend but we got invited by Paul's boss Tim and his wife to their house for a Bar-B-Q. Had a lovely time. They are good people, and so much like us it is funny. Oh and they are Canadian! Elizabeth is from New Brunswick so it's nice to have "Canada Chat" as Paul likes to put it. It's good to know that if anyone understands what we are dealing with right now it is them. It gives you piece of mind that you have people in your corner.