Happy wife, happy life. —American myth
Well, it’s a common saying, anyway. In my case, there is a very happy wife.
She has desired a move to a different type of house for the last 12 years after she saw one that a friend bought. Back then the market was terrible.
Since then, instead of kids in Illinois and Florida, they are all in Illinois. And the market has turned to a seller’s market.
So, she said she’d call a friend of mine who is a realtor to see what the going price for our house would be. Turns out quite higher than I’d thought.
One day later the house was listed. Four days later, an offer. Two days later, a second offer. And we had no place to go. After a few moist eyes, I mentioned that if we were ever going to move close to the grandkids (at least the very few years they will still be around), now was the time.
Two weeks later, I get a call after teaching a soccer referee class. “Drive up here to the Chicago area and sign the papers.” By the end of this month, less than two months after that first glimmer of hope and a lot of work on my part, we’ll be Illinois residents. After coming home for a part-time job after university work in Louisiana, we stayed here for 49 years. Guess it was time.
There is no cool little coffee house selling direct trade coffee near by, but there is a coffee place with WiFi. As I tell people, that’s all I need for my “day job”. And flights will be direct from O’Hare rather than connections from Dayton.
I’ve given up all my soccer referee responsibilities except for assigning (couldn’t find a replacement, plus I’ve already done that from Germany, China, and Japan, so why not Illinois?). That also means there is an unemployed referee in the northwest suburbs. Any readers here looking for a Regional Emeritus and former college referee? 😉
And I have a very happy wife.
Faith Venture 
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