STEP BY STEP...SOMETIMES A STUMBLE!!

What a week we've had!  Moving from Paris to Kansas City is enough in itself then we add to that having to close on our new condo on the Plaza and finish up and get geared for our big Bloom event and we're beat!!!

We heard earlier this week our closing papers had arrived and everything was good (whew!!!).  A few days later we received the news we were the proud owners of a condo at 4506 JC Nichols Pkwy!!  As exciting as this should have been at the time, I'm afraid it didn't get the celebration it deserved as I've been under the weather all week and we'd just had a difficult meeting for Bloom.  But now, a few days later, we're facing our new home with excitement and wonder.

4506 JC Nichols Parkway, #3N
(Our condo is the third floor up on the right)

The Country Club Plaza

While we were in KC in August, we met with a painter so all of the condo would be painted and clean by November 1.  After days of going back and forth with emails and calls to our wonderful realtor, he finally backed out of the job completely.  Our realtor, Sara, spoke with him (she'd been the one to recommend him and had met with him several times on our behalf) and she had no idea why he decided it was too much for him.  Perhaps the whole banking/payment issue which, while a little more difficult from here, is something we've done often and isn't that complicated was a problem.  Perhaps the client (that would be us!!!!) was too particular (who?  us?????!!!).  Whatever the reason, he's out and Sara went about finding us a new painter, Jeff, who met her at the condo and should be sending us a quote early next week.  We'll also be remodeling the main bathroom (the second bath, which will be used primarily by David,  has been redone and, though not especially how I would have done it, is nicely finished out...once we repaint the walls!) but we can do that after we arrive.  Steps and stumbles!!

Today the movers are here packing up our stuff to go back.  They came out last week to see what we had and gave us a quote.  We decided just to have our things sent back as part of a larger crate.  It saves us a reasonable amount of money and will arrive later, but there's nothing among it we will need right away.  So we've been busy going through all our things and deciding what we'll need through November 1 and what can go.

Mostly "things" - the suitcases are full of clothes 

It looks a little sad to me!

As you can see from the above shelves that, up until now, have been full of esteemed treasures, things are really going to look bare for the next six weeks!  I didn't take pictures of the walls, but there are holes on multiple walls where we removed my signs, plates etc.  It's kind of amazing how there are certain things that become habitual...looking at a clock on the dining room wall as I enter the room or glancing at the bedroom mirror to put on earrings or touch up my hair before leaving.  Now those things are gone.

People have asked if we're sad at leaving.  I wouldn't say either of us is sad.  We always knew it was a short-term adventure not our last chapter.  But, as we stroll the streets of Paris, as I sit in my dining room eating or typing this blog, as I open the large, wonderful windows each morning and look out on the courtyard behind us, I know I will miss this.

This is the view from my dining room chair.  The window boxes on the right are ours.  The green "bushes" on top of the building opposite us I've watched as the seasons pass...they started out green last spring when we moved here, had yellow flowers in early summer then became bare and brown over the winter.  I have loved watching them change.

This is from the balcony off our bedroom.  I have loved looking at the clock tower each morning as I open the windows and each night as I pass through the guest room on the way to the bathroom...there's something peaceful about it.  Sometimes I can see the reflection of the Eiffel Tower twinkling in the glass windows on the left.  I love that!

Something else, less romantic, I'll miss.  Our elevator.  Last night we watched "5 Flights Up" with Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman.  I've seen it before but this viewing really hit home.  Now, we'll only be walking up three flights of stairs in our new home (there's no elevator!😢)but, with groceries, that may seem like 5 flights...or even more!!!!  I guess if nothing else I'll stay fit.

I imagine the next six weeks will be filled with steps and stumbles both physically and emotionally as we prepare to return to the US.  Sometimes I lay awake at night and wonder what our next chapter will look like and how it will unfold.  I wonder....