It took a month to prep the house to list, and 1.5 days to sell. All of the hard work we put into prepping the house paid off and we sold for an excellent price.
The following month we finished the unfinished repairs so the new owner could walk in and start enjoying the place immediately. Projects like the attic access in the garage and improved insulation in the attic finally wrapped up. We also moved out belongings into storage as we knew there would be several weeks of "limbo" while we purchased a house.
We were in a bit of a time crunch because we would be taking a long planned vacation in Mexico the week we closed, so we had to get everything sorted a week early. And then out of nowhere, while dropping off plants at Mark and Kim's on the east side, a text came through that my step-brother Nathan had passed away the night before.
My initial reaction was numbness. I had just buried my older brother in Michigan two weeks before and I was drained...there was no emotion left to react. Sunday was so busy and distracted that I still couldn't feel anything other than confusion and a little anger.
It wasn't until Monday when I sat in my office in total silence that I pulled a pad out and wrote about Nathan for two hours.
In my life, there are two archetypes of close friends. I don't have a good name for the first, but they are ambitious, brutally honest, smart and can seem to be uncaring of your feelings. To the average person they might seem narcissistic, but they care enough about you to stick by your idiot ideas and give you painfully honest feedback.
The second is the Lionheart. We all had at least one friend like this in school...the friend that doesn't care if you are a little weird and fistfight for you even when you are wrong. As adults Lionhearts will call you out of the blue for no reason, they fiercely protect family (and family norms and tradition), they are the ones who help you move and they would literally do anything for someone they love.
Nathan was a Lionheart. He was my first call when coming to Detroit because he always looked out for us. He took care of my kids when they visited on their own and even sent presents at Christmastime. He also gave me those calls out of the blue, sometimes to see what was up, sometimes to ask for work advice. He was a good friend and even though we have a family spread across the country, it was obvious to him that it was the only family we have and he invested his time and energy into it.
There was no discussion about "if" we could make it to Detroit to say goodbye to Nathan...the question was "how" we would make it.
And that led to one of the hardest weeks of the year. Constant pressure from work, literally jamming every last belonging into a storage unit, booking travel up north then down south to Mexico. I was in my work clothes capping pipes before walking out the door of my favorite home for the last time and never stopped to look back.
We made it to Detroit, we said goodbye to Nathan (a beautiful and comforting service) and somehow...someway, made a 7am flight to Cancun.
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