That sound you hear is me sighing.  Loudly.  There may also be some melodrama going on.

Still no news on the Taj MaHell closing.  With nothing else Taj-related to do today, I sat down and started estimating some of the repair costs.  Within a few minutes, even the ends of my hair hurt and I was convinced we were headed straight for the Poor House.  I have no idea what the Poor House is, but my mother always said that's where we were trying to put her when we'd ask for "what everybody is wearing".

Later, I went over the numbers with Shawn and came to a realization:  it's really not that bad, not in the grand scheme of things.  The Taj has tremendous potential, enough that we really got excited about working to bring some of that potential to light in the first place.  I love the idea of taking something old and neglected and polishing, painting and repairing it back to beauty.  And yeah, it's going to take some money to make that happen, but if we take it slow, shop for deals and negotiate on the things we can't do ourselves, I think we'll be okay.

Do we need another house?  Oh, hellz to the no.  We still have enough unfinished projects on our regular house to keep us busy for another couple lifetimes, and with a toddler and jobs and pets and friends and all the other things that keep us busy, who has the time to take on a huge project in a town hours away? 

But Mayberry is where we spend Christmas.  Michael's stocking is hung on the Mayberry mantel and that's where Santa Claus knows to find him.  Sensible people would just get a room at the Jameson Inn and be done with it, but we're not sensible folks around here.  I am a sentimental fool about some things and Christmas is one of them.  I want Tank to wake up on Christmas morning in his own bed, in his own home, surrounded by familiar sights.  I love to travel, I dearly do, but I am a homebody when it comes to Christmas.

There's another issue at work here, too.  Neither Shawn nor I have ever really discussed moving back to Mayberry.  We've spent our adult lives being the only members of our families to wander farther afield than the next county over.  That lifestyle has suited both of us.  We like making our home in new places, discovering new restaurants and shops.  But ever since we started talking about the Taj, something weird has happened; we've both started to think of it as a place to go, should we relocate to Mayberry.  When the heck did THAT get put on the table?

Anyway, here we are.  The Taj is virtually ours and a mountain of work lies ahead.  I couldn't be more excited or nervous.

Besides, the most important issue of home ownership has already been resolved:  I know exactly where the Christmas tree should go.  Everything else will come together eventually.