The closing finally closed on Tuesday. At the closing everything went well, until it was time for the SELLER to produce a piece of paper that said their mortgage had been paid off for the Beardsell property. No piece of paper arrived from the SELLER"S attorney.
The two real estate agents, Fain Hackney, my attorney, who is also the attorney for the bank, (I'm told this is customary on MVI) and I decided not to wait around for the SELLER'S attorney to drive rapidly from Vineyard Haven to Edgartown with the piece of paper. We also wondered if it would be minutes, or hours, or, Heaven Forbid!, days for the piece of paper to arrive.
Susanne and I went to OB and had a nice lunch at Slice of Life. We exchanged gifts, had a few laughs. I told a few stories, of course, and so did she and we parted.
After I returned from another inspiring two hours at the Writer's Group in West Tisbury I called Fain and found out the good news. The SELLER never did find a piece of paper stating they had paid off the mortgage. (they only had notice on Dec. 3rd or 4th that they needed it for the closing on Jan. 25th. And they are both real estate agents, but I guess that is beside the point), but someone at some bank had a record of it and got that to the SELLER'S attorney who got it to Fain and all is well. I got an e-mail from Fain, which I just read stating. "We have closed." I guess if it had taken another day we would have had to go back and sign another set of documents, rewritten, Heaven Forbid, by the MVSB to change the dates of the mortgage, etc. Yikes! That would have been costly to me, I'm sure, and to the Bank too, I guess and not fun.
Today Paul and Barbara arrived and the three of us went over to East Chop. There we met Mike Davin, the real estate agent for the SELLER, Beardsell and Drechsel, Susanne Faraca, representing me, Michael Colaneri and my nephew, Ralph Norton. All of us toured the Drechsel house which Skip toured with me some time ago, everyone saying what a great house, what great views of the ocean, what a wonderful porch and entry and living room and fireplace, and park out front and yard and outdoor shower, etc., etc.
We had a great time for an hour. Everyone left there and, after a little detour, I drove Barbara and Paul over to see the Beardsel house, Mike stopped in for a minute, but had to leave to attend a couple of meetings involving affordable housing, I think, and I'm-not-sure-what. Barbara and Paul liked the house, of course. What's not to like? The view, as my nephew told me, is beyond money, not his exact words. I think he said, "You can't put a price on that view." Meaning, The view is priceless! And it is to me.
Who could imagine that I would grow up on the North Bluff in the 40's, first in the B.W. Norton house, now owned by Dr. Lew, on the corner where the Island Queen comes in, moving one street over before my first birthday, I'm told. where we had great views of OB harbor, long before there was an IQ or a marina or a house in front of us as there is now in front of the house on 10 Saco Ave., loose everything, the house, all my toys, everything but the clothes I wore to school, when my father died in 1953 and through hard work from the age of 17, driving a taxi in Edgartown, working at Cronig's Bros. Market, putting myself through nursing school, and then working as a nurse in jobs that I did not really like or enjoy, but tolerated because they paid me enough to be financially independent, was able to buy a house in Cambridge, sell it when I didn't have the money to do the needed repairs because I had gotten married and stopped working, invest my money in socially responsible mutual funds, against the advice of someone we all know who wanted me to put my money in individual stocks, and finally get my money out of the stock market/mutual fund racket which is really nothing more than legalized gambling - no honest work involved, just educated guessing involved and a lot of prayer, perhaps, so I could buy the Beardsell house which gives me a view across the OB harbour so I can sit on the porch downstairs or upstairs and look back on the houses I lived in as a child, live a few doors away from my friend Simone, who I lived two doors away from when I lived right on the harbor from 1952-1954 in a house that has been torn down and turned into a parking lot, like the Pretenders' Chrissy Hinde sings about.
I have come full circle I am back where I want to be, Oak Bluffs, the Soul of The Vineyard, as the new t-shirts say. I agree with their sentiment. I'm, Out of Edgartown, which, as we all know is very pretty, but generally, very uptight, buttoned up, snobbish, predominately Republican, meaning not too concerned with the "common man," more concerned with keeping their own wealth, paying less taxes, the Edgartown Yatch Club and Reading Room Crowd, the Ernie Bochs of this world who admire private property-don't walk on my land-even if you and you family were here generations before they were. Not that there aren't good, kind, honest, caring people in Edgartown. There are and I've experienced a great deal of concern for my welfare and been the recipient of generous acts of kindness from my neighbors, Jim and Jane, from my relatives, Jean and Phyd and Martha and Hayden, but not from the woman who lives three doors down Katama Road who I have never met or Ernie Boch or his family who I have met, but who have not been kind or generous to me, exactly the opposite.
As they say, "I could write a book" about life in Edgartown from 1954 -1961 when I lived there year round or afterwards when my mother and step-father built the Katama Roadhouse while I was away at NEDH School of Nursing and lived in it until they died in 1979 and 1977 respectively. Or since I've owned the house, 1979 to the present.
Ah, I do have stories, lots of them. Not to mention what it was like to move to Montclair, NJ from Cambridge, Massachusetts and find myself a member, or rather a spouse of a member, or am I a member? of the Montclair Golf Club, a bastion of wealth, harboring some good, kind people who care about something besides themselves. A Club that also harbors Republicans, ( I have met only two Democrats in the almost 12 years I have "belonged "there who would admit to being Democrats, and one of them died from smoking and drinking too much) many, many women who I played tennis and paddle tennis with on MGC teams over a number or years, who were: the most competitive, unfriendly to me, the cruelest, coldest-ice would not melt their veins — scariest, most small-minded, two-faced, hypocritical and uncaring people I had ever met in my life. It took me a few years to realize that these women really were what I thought they were when I met them-people I did not want to be around or spend time near. People who were poisonous. People who could, if you let them, ruin your day. People who were insecure, needy, lost, unhappy, on antidepressants to try to cope with a lifestyle that was so destructive to them as women that they didn't even know what their problems were, but found a pill to allow them to live in their lap of luxury, despite the fact that they had lost their heart, their soul and their way in the world.
And, I'm sorry to say, they were bringing up their children in that world of wealth and privilege without giving them the benefit of learning ethics or patience or generosity of loving kindness toward others, unless the others somehow benefited them or agreed or supported their life style, other people like themselves.
I did not see much tolerance at the MGC, tolerance of other people's views or opinions. You could not have a conversation about politics, because they all thought there was/is only one way to vote, Republican. They didn't want to be confronted with an opposite opinion, etc.
I could go on, but it's late. Just let me say that I listened to the "ladies" of the MGC and their ideas and their opinions about politics and I said nothing, because they assumed that, because I was there I agree with them. After hearing them talk about someone who didn't agree with them I didn't want to let myself in for that kind of abuse. So, I don't play on any of the teams at the MGC any more, even though there are a few women there who I admired or at least liked. Women who, gave of themselves, got involved in "charity work," cared about someone besides, themselves or what they were wearing or who they were seeing or how much money they had or how much money I had
There were a few women and a couple of men I got to know who could, at least, carry on a conversation, limited as it was I learned to relax a little with a few people and not expect to be attacked if I did voice an opinion.
But life is so much nicer in Oak Bluffs where I can be myself, even at the East Chop Tennis Club. The ECTC is so much more laid back than the MGC, at least it was when I first became a member or the spouse of a member, I believe that's what I am. Now the Chop is beginning to look a little like Montclair, NJ. The number of Mercedes have increased. Dreadful! Why does anyone with enough money to buy a Mercedes feel they have to buy one to show everyone else they can? There isn't much of any other reason I can imagine why anyone would buy one. I don't begrudge them a car. They've earned it. They have a right to buy any car they want or can afford, drive whatever car they want, but if I had a billion dollars, you can be sure that I wouldn't buy a Mercedes. Too flashy. Too "Look at me I can afford a Mercedes." For all they know, or I know, it could be a rental.
No, I'm not interested in that RAT RACE. The Human race is in such dire straits with the onset of global warming I think the fact that we drive cars at all is pretty much a disgrace, but, unfortunately, it is difficult not to drive in most present-day towns and even some cities. Certainly people living in the suburbs, the worst of all possible worlds - no or little culture and no wilderness-can not get from one place to another hardly, without driving. What a mess that is! Talk about figuring out your green footprint if you live in a suburb compared to a city with public transportation or a small town where you can walk or bicycle to everything. As "they" say, No comparison. What they really mean is...., but it's too late to get started on that topic.
Frieda Artz Now signing off as a new homeowner in Oak Bluffs, MA. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!Z
