Family, Tequila and Falling Down (No, this isn't another post about The Tolars in San Diego)

I’ve been working with this family who I totally adore for quite awhile now. I know I’ve written about them several times before. It’s a couple, who are about the same age as my own parents who have three adult, married children who all live out here in AZ. The parents are located in Albuquerque and have been trying to find a home out here so they can be closer to the kids.

Everyone in the family is kind, polite, intelligent, analytical and generally good-natured (picky about houses, but I can put up with that when I like the people and they treat me well), but what I love most about them is that none of them does anything without consulting the other seven family members (two parents, three kids, three spouses of kids).

Any time a house looks promising, everyone gathers together and gives his or her input. None of the input is judgy or bossy and the parents actually want their kids’ thoughts and opinions on whether the house is right, or not. I find it totally heartwarming and I like to think my family is a little bit like that too (in a really sarcastic, mocking manner; that’s how we say ‘I love you’, by making fun). I also aspire to have that someday with my three boys. I love how everyone is genuinely interested in participating and always willing to drop everything and come out and take a look. They’re obviously just such a loving and strong family unit.

In the last 10 years or so, since I’ve had kids, I’ve really come to value family (and friends who I consider family, of which I have many) as the top priority in my life. I feel incredibly lucky to have my parents actively in my life, living close, and having us over whenever we want to come. I’m glad my sister lives close too and that her hubby-to-be is fabulous and takes good care of her and participates with us as family already. I’m sad that my brother and his wife have recently moved to San Francisco, but glad they still get to go on our big family vacation every year and hang out and be ridiculous for at least a week. This is what’s important and that is really all. That’s really just it. (And now I’m verklempt. Has someone spiked my water with tequila? I usually only get like this after three or four shots…)

Anyway, this lovely family that I’ve come to know and adore over the past couple of years has been going through a rough patch with some gnarly medical news recently (it involves the big C word and the matriarch, unfortunately). I believe everyone has lots of hope for a full recovery, but I know it’s not going to be an easy journey and that this must be a terrifying time for them all. I remember when my sister-in-law (my husband’s twin) was diagnosed with Lymphoma over a year and a half ago and the unmasked fear on my husband’s face. She got through it and today has been in remission for over a year, but it was awful for her and awful for us not to be able to do anything for her. She walked away from that battle a changed woman, in many ways.

The point is, this weekend a great house came on the market for them. I took a couple of the ‘kids’ (I always call them ‘the kids’ because I knew their parents first, even though they’re pretty close to my age) through and it was quickly determined that this house would more than do. So I’m currently in the market for good vibes. If you have any extra, please send them our way. I really want this to work for them and hopefully make life just a little bit easier during all of this.

And just to end on an up note; I did a video of house for them, in which, I tripped. Again. (Their daughter said, “It’s OK, Elizabeth, it wouldn’t be a video from you if you didn’t fall down at least once.)