I have mentioned here before that I have been scanning all my photos so that I don’t have to carry the originals to Mexico with us. This has become a seemingly endless task, but one that has been a lot of fun, too. I’m looking forward to the ease of browsing through them – just telling the computer to run slide shows while I sit and watch.

A couple of pictures made me think about farewells, and how hard it is to contemplate being separated from family.

The first is my grandfather (on the far left) and (I believe) his brothers in a farewell photograph as they separated at the onset of the Armenian holocaust. Look at the dramatic way they grasp each others hands!

The second is my grandmother (top left) in the same circumstance with her family. Each of them is holding a folded handkerchief that signifies their sadness at being separated and that they will always remember each other. The folds in the image are because she carried this picture in her wallet nearly her entire life.

I know it will be hard sometimes to be separated from my sisters and my kids. (and other family, too)Thankfully technology today makes it easy for us to keep in touch almost as if we were down the street. But that almost is still there, and I can’t change that fact.

What I am trying to say here is that I understand a bit of what my grandparents were feeling. I will miss my family and will do my best to be a good parent, sister, and grandmother in spite of the distance between us.

In my wildest dreams I would have never believed our last month here would be such a roller coaster ride….

Last Tuesday we got word that our house deal had failed. Down to the depths of despair!

Then we gave ourselves a talking to, realized we were still heading to Mazatlan even if the house wasn’t sold. We made arrangements for a caretaker and someone to do yard maintenance, and then we were back on top of the world.

We had a few days of tension when our former buyers were being hard to pin down as to if or when they would come and pick up all the items that they’d bought from us. It’s a lot of stuff, too – the washer and dryer, picnic table, hammock & stand, plants, an armoire, two sets of outdoor furniture, the gas grill and a lot of yard maintenance equipment. Back to the depths again!

Then they called and said they’d made arrangements for a truck and would be here today to pick it up. YAY.

But we are back on top again. Our house went back on the MLS on Thursday. Friday it was viewed by some people who had wanted to see it right after we had put together our previous deal and had been waiting to see if it closed or not. An offer came in Saturday, we countered, and they accepted our counter on the same day! Back to the top again!

The deal should close on October tenth. Our realtor says that there’s no reason we need to fly back for closing – that it can all be done by sending documents back and forth by courier.

We are going to show the new people the property corners before we leave – and that is this coming Thursday. We’ll spend the last night here at a pet friendly motel, and leave the Northwest feeling excited and happy.

Sheesh!