unprecedented ...

If there was a word to describe the first quarter of 2020 it would be that one -- "unprecedented." In fact I heard that word so often that I came to hate it. I'm generally not big on surprises, unpredictability makes me uncomfortable, uncharted waters is not my thing. And yet here we all are, in the midst of a great unknown, looking for answers, seeking information, and constantly being told everything is "unprecedented."

We've bought and sold real estate before. We've moved (often, actually). And it's always a somewhat stressful process, but this purchase, sale and move have been unlike any other and when we asked for advice, direction, assurances, we kept coming up against that word again and again -- "we don't know, it's unprecedented." Sigh.

As events unfolded, quickly, we worried how our move might be affected, how we might end up stranded and unable to complete contractual obligations, how messed up and unpredictable everything was becoming. And in that panic we discovered that there was flexibility in the world. Suddenly, because things couldn't happen the way they had in the past, people were working out ways to do them in the new normal. The sellers of the farm allowed us to move early. The movers quickly altered their schedule and found a truck and a crew and a day to accommodate us. Our realtors, the legal firm handling the deal, our own kids... everyone came through to make it happen and suddenly here we are, three weeks ahead of schedule. This house, the property, the area, it's all so different from what we've had before. And suddenly we find ourselves living a a life that for us is ... unprecedented.