A tale told from the middle... backwards... ? We'll see... on May 3rd, I closed on a condo right next door to a very dear friend...
Without Lynette's "selfish" generosity, this opportunity would have been beyond my reach, but! God is that good, prayers are being answered, and there aren't enough words to express my gratitude. However, I will simply must try to describe some of the many seeds that brought this to fruition.
Hmmm telling a story backwards is trickier than I thought it would be. Let's enjoy the unfolding and blossoming of this together.
The words "cleared to close" came just a couple of months after realizing we would not wait until our lease was up to move. So many #Godstuff moments: Tessa who used to live in the same building came to the library while I was working, and after a brief conversation I began to feel relief, even hope, for the first time in months! We did not have to stay where we felt unsafe - I needed to trust that God would find a way, and that His vision for our lives.
Friday, March 4th: Logan and I met with the bank to discuss possibilities [we'd looked at places we thought maybe we could afford and wanted to try and get pre-qualified. That person referred us to someone else who specializes in the more challenging situations. She wasn't particularly encouraging.
#Godstuff Nudged by a trusted friend and colleague, I'd hoped to talk with Lynette about that meeting and the situation we'd been living in for the last few months (years) #Godstuff I never said a word... Instead, her daughter "happened" to mention that the condo next door just went on the market. Out of the corner of my eye I saw (and felt) Lynette's signature grin, and my heart began to feel lighter.
Are you familiar with the song "Tell Your heart to Breath Again." I was almost afraid to imagine the possibility. For one thing, how? For another, it was important to me that Logan feel at home and he'd said "no" to the idea of a condo, wanting us to have our own walls and not hear neighbors.
I got him to look by making sure he knew it was just a look. No expectations. It helped that the homes we'd looked at so far were not at all what either of us had in mind or could afford.
A couple days later, we saw 292 Pequot Avenue 4B for the first time, and I started to breathe again as I watched Logan fall in love with the space, and when he saw this room:
He said "if this can be my room, yes!" I was also watching Lynette grin out of the corner my eye and sensed she was up to something. Not in a million years would I have thought she was planning (scheming is more like it 😉 ) to GIFT us not just the down-payment, but enough to get the mortgage to a monthly amount we can actually handle!!
Last fall, at both Lynette and Logan's urging, Logan, Misty, and I drove up to Northern Michigan to visit Lynette and her husband Mark at their beautiful home on Black Lake. Oh what a time we had!!
Lynette and I first met in they mid 80s when we were in our mid 20s. Oh the stories we could tell... the ways we were there for each other through all kinds of "stuff" ... roommates in Mystic for a year
We'd met in 1985 when we both worked for a defense contractor in N. Stonington CT. We hit it off immediately through mutual friends and volleyball, among other things. We bonded over the relationship we found ourselves unhappily hanging onto for too long and all the wrong reasons. False sense of security, not wanting to be alone, and so, as she was going through her divorce she helped me summon the courage to end a living situation that was never in my best interest, and we moved to a beautiful new 2 bedroom condo in Mystic in 1988 - here's our one and only Christmas together - so far ;)
1988 - We only lived there for one year, and it wasn't without it's challenges, but then she found a much better job and moved, and I met my future husband and moved to a lousy apartment for a short time and then in with him - far too soon - but! I got married and I moved to Virginia in 1991 - Lynette became a Mom in 1992, lived to Michigan - and we saw each other on rare occasions when I was in CT after she moved back here about 20 years ago and around 2005 I think in Cary when she was passing through, and then Facebook helped such that when my Dad died, she reached out right away and sent me a plane ticket, showed up at the funeral, and kept much closer tabs on how we were doing. She helped again when My son and I lived in a 2 bed room duplex for $695/month, moved into my Mom’s house, thinking it would be helpful. It wasn't, and then we felt just about homeless. But, Lynette helped us get settled into our 1 bed room 3rdfloor apartment in New London – and eventually I could almost afford it!! I’ve learned so much in the last 3 years, not the least of which is how much real the struggle is for so many.
Oh, and there are SO many more gems to this story, like this one Facebook unearthed for me from 9 years ago when we had to sell the house in Cary...
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found whilst unpacking
found whilst unpacking
Story for all ages 3.27.22
5.13.22
5.17.22
from Mom and Ken
from Mom and Ken
always hits "it" even when we don't know what the heck "it" even is anymore! This is from May 7, so it "fits" perfectly, thank you!
