| Biographical Non-Fiction posted February 4, 2021 | Chapters: |
...97 98 -99- 100... 
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You plan, but sometimes the results surprise you.
A chapter in the book Remembering Yesterday
It's Funny How Things Work Out
by BethShelby
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For new readers, who may not have read my author notes, this is written in a conversational way as I talk to my deceased husband. When I refer to someone just as "you" this means I am addressing my husband, Evan.
In June of 1987, Connie had her fourteenth birthday. She graduated from eighth grade and would be starting high school in September. Her birthday fell near the time when our president, Ronald Reagan uttered those famous words we hear quoted even today; "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" It was the Berlin wall he was referring to that separated East and West Germany, and it was another two years before it finally came down.
We made several trips back to Tennessee, and stayed with Carol, while we looked to see if we could decide where we wanted to live. Since Collegedale, on the outskirts of Chattanooga, was the site of the school where we hoped to enroll Connie, we decided to look in that area first. We went into a real estate office near the Collegedale Village Market, and met a lady who said she would be happy to show us what was available in the area. We told her what we were looking for, and she took us around to all the current listings in our price range, but nothing we saw appealed to us.
The lady, Jane Dye, was very friendly and asked a lot of questions about our family. When we mentioned that our son, Don wanted to attend the chiropractic college near Atlanta, she seemed especially interested, and told us that she had a beautiful daughter near his age that she would like Don to meet. I took that with a giant salt crystal, but I hadn’t realized how serious she was.
Since nothing we had seen in Collegedale interested us, Jane took us into another little town nearby, known as Ooltewah. The town part looked old and rundown. We weren’t impressed. You said you wouldn’t want to live in a town like that, because it had a silly sounding name, which you couldn’t even pronounce. In our future, this was another statement which would come back to haunt us.
We were getting nowhere finding any houses that we liked. We had looked forward to being near where Carol and Glen lived, but now we learned that Glen had decided to finish his nursing degree on the Florida campus. Carol was starting to pack in preparation for a move to Florida.
We needed to get Connie registered if she was going to school in Tennessee, so that was presenting another problem. Christi and her friend suggested, that since they lived in Collegedale, we could go ahead and register her, and she could stay with them and start the school year while we made arrangements to come up. It sounded like a plan.
We decided we would give our house one more chance to sell by owner. If we had no luck by the time we were ready to move, we would put it in the hands of another Realtor. So we ran the ad for another month. You took Connie back to Tennessee to get her registered, and I stayed behind to answer the phone, in case anyone wanted to see the house.
I still had the job with the medical supply company. September 10 was my last day to work, since I planned to join you in Tennessee at the end of the week. It was also my birthday. It was one I had been dreading because it was the year I would turn fifty. The office gave me a surprise birthday party which was also a good-bye party.
When I got home that day, the phone rang and it was a young couple wanting to look at the house. I told them to come on over, not really expecting much. They brought their parents with them. The minute they walked in, they were crazy about the house. They claimed it was exactly what they were looking for. They loved everything about it. The best part was they were pre-qualified for a veteran’s loan for $80,000.
We quickly agreed on the $87,000 for which we had it listed. The parents said they would make them a side-loan for the other $7,000. I called you in Tennessee, and you talked to the father, who knew all about how to handle by-owner real estate sales. We faxed the paperwork to you and you signed. The young people were ecstatic. They even loved my furniture and decorations, but that wasn’t part of the deal. The closing date was set for December. That would give us plenty of time to find something to buy in Tennessee.
I was still in shock a few minutes after they left when the phone rang again. This time it was the Realtor who had handled the house before. I let him go on chewing me out for being stupid enough to list the house by owner again for $87,000, when he told us that the house wouldn’t sell for that. When he finished and asked if I was ready to let him list it again, I told him no, because I’d just finished selling for the list price. There was a silence on the line, and then it was obvious he thought I was lying. His final words were, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. You don’t know anything about selling a house.”
There would be more headaches before we got settled, but let me add this one little thing that happened two months later, which likely would have affected our ability to sell at the asking price, or maybe to sell it at any price if it had it taken place earlier.
On October 19 of 1987, the world awoke to what became known as Black Monday. The stock market, which had been running in what was known as a "bull market" since 1982, suddenly tumbled world-wide, losing over 20% of its value in one day. This issued in a panic and a "bear market," which meant buyers would now be extremely cautious about investing.
For new readers, who may not have read my author notes, this is written in a conversational way as I talk to my deceased husband. When I refer to someone just as "you" this means I am addressing my husband, Evan.
In June of 1987, Connie had her fourteenth birthday. She graduated from eighth grade and would be starting high school in September. Her birthday fell near the time when our president, Ronald Reagan uttered those famous words we hear quoted even today; "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" It was the Berlin wall he was referring to that separated East and West Germany, and it was another two years before it finally came down.
We made several trips back to Tennessee, and stayed with Carol, while we looked to see if we could decide where we wanted to live. Since Collegedale, on the outskirts of Chattanooga, was the site of the school where we hoped to enroll Connie, we decided to look in that area first. We went into a real estate office near the Collegedale Village Market, and met a lady who said she would be happy to show us what was available in the area. We told her what we were looking for, and she took us around to all the current listings in our price range, but nothing we saw appealed to us.
The lady, Jane Dye, was very friendly and asked a lot of questions about our family. When we mentioned that our son, Don wanted to attend the chiropractic college near Atlanta, she seemed especially interested, and told us that she had a beautiful daughter near his age that she would like Don to meet. I took that with a giant salt crystal, but I hadn’t realized how serious she was.
Since nothing we had seen in Collegedale interested us, Jane took us into another little town nearby, known as Ooltewah. The town part looked old and rundown. We weren’t impressed. You said you wouldn’t want to live in a town like that, because it had a silly sounding name, which you couldn’t even pronounce. In our future, this was another statement which would come back to haunt us.
We were getting nowhere finding any houses that we liked. We had looked forward to being near where Carol and Glen lived, but now we learned that Glen had decided to finish his nursing degree on the Florida campus. Carol was starting to pack in preparation for a move to Florida.
We needed to get Connie registered if she was going to school in Tennessee, so that was presenting another problem. Christi and her friend suggested, that since they lived in Collegedale, we could go ahead and register her, and she could stay with them and start the school year while we made arrangements to come up. It sounded like a plan.
We decided we would give our house one more chance to sell by owner. If we had no luck by the time we were ready to move, we would put it in the hands of another Realtor. So we ran the ad for another month. You took Connie back to Tennessee to get her registered, and I stayed behind to answer the phone, in case anyone wanted to see the house.
I still had the job with the medical supply company. September 10 was my last day to work, since I planned to join you in Tennessee at the end of the week. It was also my birthday. It was one I had been dreading because it was the year I would turn fifty. The office gave me a surprise birthday party which was also a good-bye party.
When I got home that day, the phone rang and it was a young couple wanting to look at the house. I told them to come on over, not really expecting much. They brought their parents with them. The minute they walked in, they were crazy about the house. They claimed it was exactly what they were looking for. They loved everything about it. The best part was they were pre-qualified for a veteran’s loan for $80,000.
We quickly agreed on the $87,000 for which we had it listed. The parents said they would make them a side-loan for the other $7,000. I called you in Tennessee, and you talked to the father, who knew all about how to handle by-owner real estate sales. We faxed the paperwork to you and you signed. The young people were ecstatic. They even loved my furniture and decorations, but that wasn’t part of the deal. The closing date was set for December. That would give us plenty of time to find something to buy in Tennessee.
I was still in shock a few minutes after they left when the phone rang again. This time it was the Realtor who had handled the house before. I let him go on chewing me out for being stupid enough to list the house by owner again for $87,000, when he told us that the house wouldn’t sell for that. When he finished and asked if I was ready to let him list it again, I told him no, because I’d just finished selling for the list price. There was a silence on the line, and then it was obvious he thought I was lying. His final words were, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. You don’t know anything about selling a house.”
There would be more headaches before we got settled, but let me add this one little thing that happened two months later, which likely would have affected our ability to sell at the asking price, or maybe to sell it at any price if it had it taken place earlier.
On October 19 of 1987, the world awoke to what became known as Black Monday. The stock market, which had been running in what was known as a "bull market" since 1982, suddenly tumbled world-wide, losing over 20% of its value in one day. This issued in a panic and a "bear market," which meant buyers would now be extremely cautious about investing.
In June of 1987, Connie had her fourteenth birthday. She graduated from eighth grade and would be starting high school in September. Her birthday fell near the time when our president, Ronald Reagan uttered those famous words we hear quoted even today; "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" It was the Berlin wall he was referring to that separated East and West Germany, and it was another two years before it finally came down.
We made several trips back to Tennessee, and stayed with Carol, while we looked to see if we could decide where we wanted to live. Since Collegedale, on the outskirts of Chattanooga, was the site of the school where we hoped to enroll Connie, we decided to look in that area first. We went into a real estate office near the Collegedale Village Market, and met a lady who said she would be happy to show us what was available in the area. We told her what we were looking for, and she took us around to all the current listings in our price range, but nothing we saw appealed to us.
The lady, Jane Dye, was very friendly and asked a lot of questions about our family. When we mentioned that our son, Don wanted to attend the chiropractic college near Atlanta, she seemed especially interested, and told us that she had a beautiful daughter near his age that she would like Don to meet. I took that with a giant salt crystal, but I hadn’t realized how serious she was.
Since nothing we had seen in Collegedale interested us, Jane took us into another little town nearby, known as Ooltewah. The town part looked old and rundown. We weren’t impressed. You said you wouldn’t want to live in a town like that, because it had a silly sounding name, which you couldn’t even pronounce. In our future, this was another statement which would come back to haunt us.
We were getting nowhere finding any houses that we liked. We had looked forward to being near where Carol and Glen lived, but now we learned that Glen had decided to finish his nursing degree on the Florida campus. Carol was starting to pack in preparation for a move to Florida.
We needed to get Connie registered if she was going to school in Tennessee, so that was presenting another problem. Christi and her friend suggested, that since they lived in Collegedale, we could go ahead and register her, and she could stay with them and start the school year while we made arrangements to come up. It sounded like a plan.
We decided we would give our house one more chance to sell by owner. If we had no luck by the time we were ready to move, we would put it in the hands of another Realtor. So we ran the ad for another month. You took Connie back to Tennessee to get her registered, and I stayed behind to answer the phone, in case anyone wanted to see the house.
I still had the job with the medical supply company. September 10 was my last day to work, since I planned to join you in Tennessee at the end of the week. It was also my birthday. It was one I had been dreading because it was the year I would turn fifty. The office gave me a surprise birthday party which was also a good-bye party.
When I got home that day, the phone rang and it was a young couple wanting to look at the house. I told them to come on over, not really expecting much. They brought their parents with them. The minute they walked in, they were crazy about the house. They claimed it was exactly what they were looking for. They loved everything about it. The best part was they were pre-qualified for a veteran’s loan for $80,000.
We quickly agreed on the $87,000 for which we had it listed. The parents said they would make them a side-loan for the other $7,000. I called you in Tennessee, and you talked to the father, who knew all about how to handle by-owner real estate sales. We faxed the paperwork to you and you signed. The young people were ecstatic. They even loved my furniture and decorations, but that wasn’t part of the deal. The closing date was set for December. That would give us plenty of time to find something to buy in Tennessee.
I was still in shock a few minutes after they left when the phone rang again. This time it was the Realtor who had handled the house before. I let him go on chewing me out for being stupid enough to list the house by owner again for $87,000, when he told us that the house wouldn’t sell for that. When he finished and asked if I was ready to let him list it again, I told him no, because I’d just finished selling for the list price. There was a silence on the line, and then it was obvious he thought I was lying. His final words were, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. You don’t know anything about selling a house.”
There would be more headaches before we got settled, but let me add this one little thing that happened two months later, which likely would have affected our ability to sell at the asking price, or maybe to sell it at any price if it had it taken place earlier.
On October 19 of 1987, the world awoke to what became known as Black Monday. The stock market, which had been running in what was known as a "bull market" since 1982, suddenly tumbled world-wide, losing over 20% of its value in one day. This issued in a panic and a "bear market," which meant buyers would now be extremely cautious about investing.
 Recognized |
I'm continuing to recall memories of life with my deceased husband, Evan, as if I am talking aloud to him. I'm doing this because I want my children to know us as we knew each other and not just as their parents.
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