We closed on a house this week that we purchased from Freddie Mac. Freddie Mac is a quasi-government company. After filling out all of the forms twice when I made the offer I was surprised to find forms requesting the same information put in front of me at the closing.
15 years ago I would have filled out every third line on the form and handed it back to who ever gave it to me. I was not into filling out forms, but I have mellowed with age. I just haven't mellowed quite as much as I thought I had. I filled out my information including where I was born. WHERE I WAS BORN? I was purchasing a house not applying for a passport. OK, Royce calm down just keep filling it out. Then the form requested all of Sharon's information. I asked the notary why they needed this information. I kept filling it out. The date we were married, her name before we were married. Then it asked where she was born.. No I skipped the rest of that part. Then as you can see above it requested all my children's names and information. I believe my exact words were, "we are done here. You do not need any of this information." The poor notary public seemed stunned that I would not fill out the paperwork.
The next page had questions about past marriages and domestic partnerships. I just handed it all back to him and said. "You give me a deed and I will make a phone call to release the money, I am not marrying you I am buying a house Freddie Mac needs to sell." Hey if they actually wanted all the information they should not have signed the deed before they showed up at the meeting. I know the deed still has to be recorded, but petty bureaucrats cave in when you look them in the eye and tell them to go jump.
I was not supposed to get the keys to the property until ServiceLink the closing agent had confirmation of funds. Funny how that works when the keys are left with a local person. I was handed the keys immediately.
I had not been able to get into the garage when I originally looked at the property. I was pleased when I unlocked the padlock and looked inside. Look at all the electrical outlets and even a fairly new garage door opener.
Ever have that sinking feeling that you missed something? I saw all the electrical wiring had been cut out of garage. Someone had broken in and stole the wiring for the copper. I am suddenly thinking, Oh no did I miss that when I walked through the house. I went and unlocked the door and was relieved to see the wiring still intact. I went to the basement and saw the wires were still running to the furnace.
Then I looked at the breaker box. AAAAH. The thieves had cut all easily accessible wiring in the basement except to the furnace.
Now I will have to track down all the outlets in the walls and the wiring to the lights and rerun it. It is not a real high cost in material but it will be time consuming.
At least the underground wire to the garage is still in the breaker box and they left a long enough end in the garage so I can splice it in a junction box and don't have to pull wire under a concrete patio. I now have to remove all the cut wires from the breaker box. Wire in an outlet and a light fixture. Get the power turned on and then we can start working on the house. Until I get that done I am working in the basement by the light of a flashlight. Good times, good times.
So my week had power hungry bureaucrats and thieves. Amazingly I survived it on a pretty even keel.
I had watched a young woman fall apart earlier this year. She had pulled her life together when it all went to pieces. She started using drugs again. This morning I was talking to her mother. I said it looks like your daughter is getting her life back together again. I have not seen her high on drugs for the last couple months.
Her mother told me that her ex- husband had won a custody battle for the children and then a close friend had committed suicide. It was more than she could handle and she started using drugs. That led to spending time with the wrong people. Her life had spiraled out of control.
I had just seen the spiral down. I had not known the cause. Sometimes we don't know at all what is causing other's actions. We just see the results.
I am sure there was a reason why that intrusive form was to be filled out for Freddie Mac. I am also pretty sure it is not a good reason. I know it was a squatter that stole the copper wire out of the house. They were out of money. It still was not a good reason.
It is not the troubles that come into our lives that always matter. It is how we react to them. A young woman can not stand the mental anguish so she self medicates and ruins her life. A homeless man has nothing and tries to get a little money by stealing copper. A bureaucrat collects useless data to feel like they have value.
If you have anguish in your life how do you handle it. I can tell you how I do now. I have this mental shelf. It is what I call God's shelf. I put on that shelf all the things I can not fix. That would be about 99% of everything that crops up in my days. I say to God. Hey God this one is yours because I can't fix it. Then I don't need to worry about it because God has it.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
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