Even more pressure

As I mentioned in my last post, it's been very busy and stressful recently. I mentioned that my mother fell and broke her hip. The operation was successful but the recovery is slow and painful. My mother is 89 and any change in her life is hard but this goes beyond measure. But it did bring one thing into focus for her - she can no longer mange the house by herself and shouldn't be living there alone.

We've been talking about this for almost 20 years (since my father died) but there was always some reason she could not move. But now it seems that there is no reason to stay. So, we decided she needs to sell the house and move from Western Pennsylvania to Cape Cod where we live. This is a bad time for this but I'm afraid if we don't do it now, something worse is going to happen to make this even harder. I had hoped that by putting the house on the market right away, we would start a long process that we might not want to begin if we waited too long. Unfortunately, the house sold in about a week! I knew the housing market was picking up but this just amazed me. Even though there are many things against it (there are only two bedrooms and a natural gas pipeline runs through the lower edge of the lot meaning nothing can be built over that spot), my mother got very close to what she thought the house was worth. But this means that not only must she continue her recovery from hip surgery, she must also prepare to pack up her belongings and move 650 miles away. And the cost of living here is much higher than the area south of Pittsburgh.

I hope to write about this effort in coming posts. Perhaps our struggle will help others faced with similar problems. Fortunately, we have until the end of September to finish the move. The people who bought the house, who are renting now, were willing to give her a longer time to move out even though it means their paying more rent. A lot of pleasant surprises are going to have to happen to make this go smoothly. We been praying about this constantly. Of course, we've been praying about my mother's recovery but we're also praying about finding an affordable place for her here, and praying about the terrible trip that is facing my mother on the day (or days) when she makes the trip here.

So far, the Lord has been kind. We have an apartment lined up within walking distance of our house that is a one-bedroom apartment that has special pricing for people on a low fixed income. And did I mention that since her hospital stay it was determined that my mother must be on oxygen 24 hours a day? While that adds another obstacle to her 12-hour (at least) journey here, we've found battery powered oxygen concentrators that, we hope, will allow her to make the trip and still have a full supply of oxygen. Stay tuned.