Signed, Sealed, and Delivered

Tuesday, 31 May

A few hours ago, we closed on the sale of the townhouse.  We signed the paperwork and handed over the keys and garage door openers to the young woman who is now responsible for making the mortgage payments.  Our portion of the pay-off amount should be in our bank account by COB Wednesday.  We’re anxious to get our hands on that money since we already have plans for it — a chunk of it will pay off the mortgage on the motorhome, thus rendering us debt free.  That’s a good thing.

Over the years, we’ve owned three homes … all townhouses.  We bought the first one in Salt Lake City, Utah, where we lived for eight years.  In 1991, when Mui accepted a government position in Washington DC, we made the cross-country move and eventually bought our second townhouse in Vienna, Virginia.  Our third townhouse was supposed to be an investment, but somehow Mui convinced me that we should live in it instead.  Although we moved just a short mile away on that occasion, it was enough distance to put us over the city line and we ended up in Fairfax, Virginia.

Selling a home is always bitter-sweet, but each time we did so, we knew we were making the right move (no pun intended).  This time, our exciting retirement plans for rollin’ around North America to see and experience new places, and revisit favorite haunts, temper any feelings of sadness.

I know we’ll one day want to look back, so here are photos of the place we called home for the last seven years.  (Sorry for the distortion in the photos; the only lens I had handy at the time was my ultra-wide angle.)

I posted this collage before, But I forgot to take a picture of the exterior of the house,
so until I can find a better one, this one will have to do.

We’ll start in the basement … this was Mui’s “man cave,” so to speak … only because I always found the temperature down there a little too cold.  Hmmm; now that I think of it, maybe that was on purpose!!!

A closer look at the map to the right of the cabinets in the center bottom photo above.
Over the years, we’ve annotated this world map to show the places to which we’ve traveled.

The main floor had a relatively open floor plan … the living and dining room (which, I’m sorry to say, was seldom used) …

… and on the other side of the wall, the family room and kitchen/breakfast nook … all of which got plenty of use.  The family room was dubbed the “travel room” as it held many of our cherished travel memorabilia.  (There used to be a sofa where the two chairs are in the picture; it was “downsized” before I thought to take these pictures.)

Finally, on the top level … two guest bedrooms (one of which served as my home office) and the master suite.

And that completes the tour of 2994 Thompson Park Lane. Join us at another time for a tour of our digs for the next 19 months as we continue to plan and prepare for retirement.