The Double Dark Chocolate Approach

Day 52 (March 27, 2019)

Hi Lord,

            Can I get a drum roll please!? Du, du, du, du, du, du! The verdict is . . . a conservative no to the white brick traditional. My parents felt like it was all moving a bit too fast especially since our house back in California has not sold yet. To go for it would have put a ton of pressure on them both financially and logistically. I think it a wise choice even though I will miss that dreamy sunroom. (Guess I will just have to convince my parents to make just as special a spot in the home they do buy. If my predictions are correct, I do believe that feat is quite possible, especially since my mom is totally on my side.) And, who knows (well I suppose you do haha), maybe their new home will be in one of the communities we drove through today.

            It was a blast with everyone today! We all hopped into the minivan and took a long drive through a few neighborhoods my parents liked. We would all call out when we saw a for sale sign, and then the search was on. A few of us would figure out the name of the street we were on and the address of the house that caught our attention. Then someone else would gather all the details on the house searching app (price, how long on the market, etc.). Lord, this was my kind of house hunting! No going into the homes where knickknacks, stoves, ovens, fireplaces, sinks, tubs, showers, and water heaters abound, all prime and ready to help my OCD play its malevolent games on me; no going into homes where my OCD swipes up the calm resolve, I had fought so hard to maintain, and tosses it back and forth in the clutches of its swirling squall until my mind is hopelessly unable to find any bearings of firm reality; and no coming out of those homes invisibly battered and bruised by the onslaught of lies I had battled with all the sanity I could muster. No, today, it was all the fun stuff—looking for the pretty houses and searching for all their exquisite details online—without the internal, silent, horror I deal with by actually going inside. Today was a much less stressful house hunting day, honestly, for all involved.

            Plus, here is the best part! One part of the drive encompassed a detour to an ice cream shop on an actual dairy farm. (Seriously, Lord, who could be stressed out when there is ice cream involved—not this ice-creamaholic anyways.) The dairy farm was located out on some of the most beautiful pasturelands where we noticed a bunch of beautiful farm style homes prettily placed on pristine acreage. Lord, I don’t know about my parents (well my mom might be interested), but I am totally down to one day purchase a home with a bit of land (or at least a home situated on an oversized lot). I would love to sit on a front porch and have enough open space around to watch storms roll in, kind of like how I imagine folks living out in this rural area probably do.

            Anywho. Sooo, you wanna know what kind of ice cream I chose, Lord!? Well, it will be no surprise really because it was “Double Dark Chocolate,” of course. (Is there anything more divine than creamy, rich, chocolate anything? Like, it is always “get in my belly” GOOD!) Our family friend said that she could see me doing my happy dance in the back seat—a little wiggle this way and a little wiggle that way—as I dove into the scrumptious bowl of ice cream in my hands. Honestly, Lord, we all needed some heavenly goodness—lick the bowl clean kind of goodness—and some non-stress house hunting to boot. It was delightful for both mind and tummy today!

Always,

Your Daughter Kaitlan

P.S. Lord, I want to ask for those who are battling stressful situations, or environments, that you help them maybe take a step back and complete whatever stressful thing they are working on in a new way that brings them less stress—less anxiety—even if it is only for a day. Maybe working online could also take them out of their difficult environment for a time and give them space to breath and feel calm again; or maybe it is the opposite, and they need to step away from their computer, where everything is always chaotically vying for their attention, and work with old school paper and pen—like I need to do often. Lord, I just ask that whatever it is that someone else is battling, that somehow they can step away from it and work out a new, less stressful, approach to the issue. And, Lord, it couldn’t hurt for them to also have some heavenly—oh so scrumptious—goodness to go along with that new approach too. All in the name of balance, Lord, all in the name of balance, haha. Love you, Lord! And thank you for “Double Dark Chocolate” ice cream too! Can’t forget that.

Thank you for reading! If you are new, this is a chronological blog series. It is best read in order. CLICK HERE for the intro.