Questions

Salt Lake City

Hello,

Where are Miriam and family moving? Just two and a half miles down the road to a larger house is the destination. We have seen this house and there are some nice features, but it will require a lot of work. I am glad that I am not moving into the place. Leroy and I are not fixer uppers. I am used to the idea that I will accept whatever I find, like it or not. Living in parsonages did not give much luxury of choice and I believe that I have buried that gene if I ever had it. Certainly I have always found things I do not like but after a while they just become part of the landscape and not noticed so much. Also, generally, I have found more things that I do like. I try to think of those rather than the negatives on a daily basis. Some are just treasures waiting for me to enjoy them even though I had had no idea that I would like such a thing. Now how will I live without two sinks in the bathroom? Perhaps there are two sinks. I have not yet seen my next home. It will be a surprise to me on the day I move in. I do not even know how many rooms there are.

I have moved into seven places without seeing them ahead of time. I go expecting the best and often find it. Could you do that? Have you ever done that? Course I know that I will not be spending years in this place or paying for it except as a deduction from Leroy’s salary.

In the past I felt that I wanted “my own place” and that home owners came out way ahead. Because of course even in a parsonage we are paying rent, the money just does not exchange hands. For your information we do have to put a rental value on the house and pay taxes accordingly as is only fair since it is part of salary. In my mature years I am not so sure that I want or need to own. Certainly we could not have sold homes as frequently as we have moved and come out ahead. Also when I see how much time, effort, and money goes into my children’s homes I am not sure they come out ahead either. But there is still a part of me that yearns to pound a nail in the wall and not consider who might care about that.

Paula