God Willing
09/02/19 06:56
The third time is the charm. Or, should I say, the Lord works in mysterious ways? It may have been a Goldilocks deal all along but we just didn't know it. The first place he looked at wasn't quite right. The second place he looked at was good but had some serious drawbacks. The third place, in a different township altogether, seems to be just right. Just when any and all prospects of finding a place for Evan seemed to be dwindling by the day we got this lovely return phone call from a rental agent that Nancy has been following up with over the last month or so.
We have a few things to attend to before anyone gets to sign on a dotted line but they seem to be nothing more than the usual things one has to deal with when renting a new apartment. You know, things like income verification, a criminal background check, etc. They're wasting their time if they go looking for his footprint in the social media space. He has none so there is nothing to worry about there. Nothing to worry about anywhere really. That doesn't mean we're not going to worry about him if and when he does move in to his new place.
Weather permitting, we'll not concern ourselves with the pace of snail mail by driving here and there while delivering the necessary documents to their rightful destination(s) in order to move the process forward. Here's hoping we don't seem too eager if and when we show up on someone's doorstep unexpectedly. You know what they say about first impressions. It doesn't take much to get on someone's bad side these days. We just don't want to leave anything to chance.
Maybe there is a reason the first two places didn't work out, I told Evan. This is where the Baby Jesus comes in. You're on your bloody knees day in and day out asking, praying, and begging for his assistance. Not literally, mind you, but nonetheless. A little fucking divine intervention would be nice. I want to be careful with my language here because we're not done doing what we need to do. No need to get on the big guy's bad side while we work our way through the process. He could nix this in a heartbeat and we would be none the wiser.
Clearly, the listings were drying up and time was running out by the time the rental agent returned Nancy's call. It was Nancy's persistence in following up with her that made the lot of us think that her calls might well not be returned. The squeaky wheel would not get the grease and we would be shit out of luck. We just weren't sure anymore. The tone of the agent's voice when Nancy last followed up was one of impatience and annoyance and if Nancy sounded exasperated or pleading it was because she was calling and hoping against hope. That can sound a lot like desperation to the untrained ear.
Now that they've called back we are all singing Nancy's praises for being as persistent as she has been. I'm not convinced that there wasn't divine intervention but I want to give Nancy her due so will keep my own counsel on such matters. Neither Evan nor I had the persistence or wherewithal to get the job done. While he and I were perfectly fine with leaving fate to decided the outcome after placing a call here and there, Nancy was on the phone dialing, cajoling, charming, inquiring, persisting, and then following up and doing it all over again.
I assured Nancy that the fact that the return call was for Evan and not her and that was a good sign. It was his name on the paperwork after all so why wouldn't they reach out to him? Had they connected the dots between Nancy's calls and Evan's paperwork and that was why they were now calling? Evan and I sat in the front room while Nancy worked her magic on the phone with the rental agent behind closed doors.
Evan knew little of the history or timeline of his mother's inquiries so after taking the call at 9:01 a.m. on a Monday morning he handed the phone over to her and he and I waited to hear the hopefully good news that his application was now under consideration. We still were not sure that they weren't simply returning Nancy's calls to say that he was out of the running. The longer the call lasted the more hopeful and excited Evan and I became.
What we hadn't told Evan, because we didn't want him getting his hopes up, was that the return call had come in the previous Friday afternoon at roughly 3:00 p.m. We were out and about so we missed the call. The phone message itself was nothing more than a request to speak to Evan.
Nancy didn't notice the message until 5:01 p.m. so she called back immediately and left a message when no one picked up the phone that we would call back first thing Monday. She and I spent the weekend feeling good about things and we even went so far as to feel cautiously optimistic but nothing more. The less we talked about it the better.
With the lot of us feeling better about the direction that things were taking after Nancy's conversation with the rental agent, we piled in the car and drove over to the apartment complex for a closer look. Which of the three or four buildings on the property was it exactly? Would we be able to tell which apartment was empty looking up as we were from the parking lot? We felt good about the fact that the property was recently built. Everything would be new; No nicotine stained walls; No scruffy carpeting; Nothing in need of repair; and no, smoking is not allowed.
Everything from the air conditioning to the heating should work flawlessly. Parking seemed ample but was not otherwise designated. Evan thought that designated spots might be possible for a price. We inquired about their pet policy of a fellow who was coming out of the building carrying boxes and he thought they might allow small pets if any. We saw two small Pomeranian types being walked around in our time there so the likelihood of issues with allergies and such seemed maybe minimal at best.
Nancy had been assured that despite the fact that the apartment was a studio, and we were hoping for a one bedroom but think an upgrade is probably possible after a year or so, the apartment had three windows and was really very nice. There were several possible three window configurations looking up at the building as we were so that didn't help in trying to determine which apartment might ultimately belong to Evan. Unlike the other buildings in the complex, this building did not have any units with a balcony.
Nancy was told that his apartment was a third or fourth floor unit and one that would look out over the parking lot so we focused our attention accordingly. The late winter afternoon light reflected brightly off the exterior of the building and Nancy was pleased when considering the fact that Evan would be living in a bright and sunny, albeit small, apartment.
So now we are likely to have to think about what he is going to need just to move in. We will no doubt be forced to disentangle his belongings from our own in addition to what he thinks he might like to commandeer from the home we have jointly shared for the last few years and then going back to his childhood. I suppose if I have any regrets it might be that we didn't expect more of him while living in our home over the past few years. These are all things that he will now have to do for himself. Never underestimate the resourcefulness of a millennial, we're told.
God willing is what I say.
We have a few things to attend to before anyone gets to sign on a dotted line but they seem to be nothing more than the usual things one has to deal with when renting a new apartment. You know, things like income verification, a criminal background check, etc. They're wasting their time if they go looking for his footprint in the social media space. He has none so there is nothing to worry about there. Nothing to worry about anywhere really. That doesn't mean we're not going to worry about him if and when he does move in to his new place.
Weather permitting, we'll not concern ourselves with the pace of snail mail by driving here and there while delivering the necessary documents to their rightful destination(s) in order to move the process forward. Here's hoping we don't seem too eager if and when we show up on someone's doorstep unexpectedly. You know what they say about first impressions. It doesn't take much to get on someone's bad side these days. We just don't want to leave anything to chance.
Maybe there is a reason the first two places didn't work out, I told Evan. This is where the Baby Jesus comes in. You're on your bloody knees day in and day out asking, praying, and begging for his assistance. Not literally, mind you, but nonetheless. A little fucking divine intervention would be nice. I want to be careful with my language here because we're not done doing what we need to do. No need to get on the big guy's bad side while we work our way through the process. He could nix this in a heartbeat and we would be none the wiser.
Clearly, the listings were drying up and time was running out by the time the rental agent returned Nancy's call. It was Nancy's persistence in following up with her that made the lot of us think that her calls might well not be returned. The squeaky wheel would not get the grease and we would be shit out of luck. We just weren't sure anymore. The tone of the agent's voice when Nancy last followed up was one of impatience and annoyance and if Nancy sounded exasperated or pleading it was because she was calling and hoping against hope. That can sound a lot like desperation to the untrained ear.
Now that they've called back we are all singing Nancy's praises for being as persistent as she has been. I'm not convinced that there wasn't divine intervention but I want to give Nancy her due so will keep my own counsel on such matters. Neither Evan nor I had the persistence or wherewithal to get the job done. While he and I were perfectly fine with leaving fate to decided the outcome after placing a call here and there, Nancy was on the phone dialing, cajoling, charming, inquiring, persisting, and then following up and doing it all over again.
I assured Nancy that the fact that the return call was for Evan and not her and that was a good sign. It was his name on the paperwork after all so why wouldn't they reach out to him? Had they connected the dots between Nancy's calls and Evan's paperwork and that was why they were now calling? Evan and I sat in the front room while Nancy worked her magic on the phone with the rental agent behind closed doors.
Evan knew little of the history or timeline of his mother's inquiries so after taking the call at 9:01 a.m. on a Monday morning he handed the phone over to her and he and I waited to hear the hopefully good news that his application was now under consideration. We still were not sure that they weren't simply returning Nancy's calls to say that he was out of the running. The longer the call lasted the more hopeful and excited Evan and I became.
What we hadn't told Evan, because we didn't want him getting his hopes up, was that the return call had come in the previous Friday afternoon at roughly 3:00 p.m. We were out and about so we missed the call. The phone message itself was nothing more than a request to speak to Evan.
Nancy didn't notice the message until 5:01 p.m. so she called back immediately and left a message when no one picked up the phone that we would call back first thing Monday. She and I spent the weekend feeling good about things and we even went so far as to feel cautiously optimistic but nothing more. The less we talked about it the better.
With the lot of us feeling better about the direction that things were taking after Nancy's conversation with the rental agent, we piled in the car and drove over to the apartment complex for a closer look. Which of the three or four buildings on the property was it exactly? Would we be able to tell which apartment was empty looking up as we were from the parking lot? We felt good about the fact that the property was recently built. Everything would be new; No nicotine stained walls; No scruffy carpeting; Nothing in need of repair; and no, smoking is not allowed.
Everything from the air conditioning to the heating should work flawlessly. Parking seemed ample but was not otherwise designated. Evan thought that designated spots might be possible for a price. We inquired about their pet policy of a fellow who was coming out of the building carrying boxes and he thought they might allow small pets if any. We saw two small Pomeranian types being walked around in our time there so the likelihood of issues with allergies and such seemed maybe minimal at best.
Nancy had been assured that despite the fact that the apartment was a studio, and we were hoping for a one bedroom but think an upgrade is probably possible after a year or so, the apartment had three windows and was really very nice. There were several possible three window configurations looking up at the building as we were so that didn't help in trying to determine which apartment might ultimately belong to Evan. Unlike the other buildings in the complex, this building did not have any units with a balcony.
Nancy was told that his apartment was a third or fourth floor unit and one that would look out over the parking lot so we focused our attention accordingly. The late winter afternoon light reflected brightly off the exterior of the building and Nancy was pleased when considering the fact that Evan would be living in a bright and sunny, albeit small, apartment.
So now we are likely to have to think about what he is going to need just to move in. We will no doubt be forced to disentangle his belongings from our own in addition to what he thinks he might like to commandeer from the home we have jointly shared for the last few years and then going back to his childhood. I suppose if I have any regrets it might be that we didn't expect more of him while living in our home over the past few years. These are all things that he will now have to do for himself. Never underestimate the resourcefulness of a millennial, we're told.
God willing is what I say.