And all of a sudden …

Me and my big mouth. On Sunday, I wrote about my life being in a rut. I should really learn not to tempt fate like that.

On Monday, my parents sold their house. Good for them, you think. And it is a good thing, because it brings them one step closer to being here in Austin, having finally completed the two year migration since Hurricane Katrina evicted them from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, where they had intended to spend their retirement.

The bad part about it, however, is that they just put it on the market. The Memphis housing market is so sluggish that they weren’t expecting to have any serious movement until August or September, and they don’t have a place to live after the closing on April 26. They’ve started looking around Austin a couple of times, but had decided not to make any moves on a house here until things were looking up in Memphis. They certainly weren’t expecting to sell three weeks after they listed it. So, they’re coming on Monday to try to find a place to live in the meantime, and I’m asking around to all of my friends and coworkers to see if anyone knows anyone who might be interested in subletting, or if anyone knows a good realtor (anyone? anyone?).

Then, yesterday afternoon, my boss dropped another slight bombshell on me. “I might need someone to go to Turkey for ten days in the summer. Would you be interested?” And how. It’s way too soon to tell if this is a real possibility, though, and I don’t know if bringing Ray along is an option.

You should have seen Ray’s ears perk up when I told him: “Does this mean that we don’t have to go to Mexico City?” Ray has convinced himself that if we go to Mexico City, we’ll be kidnapped (I knew watching Man on Fire was a bad idea). He’s still willing to go … or that’s what he’s telling me, at any rate … but I know he’s nervous, and I’m trying to be understanding about it. He hasn’t been out of the country much before, and he’s not sure what to expect, and I keep trying to remind myself of what it was like when I first went overseas — unfortunately, senility has set in, and I really can’t remember back that far.

He did really well last year in Egypt, even though I think he was nervous about going there. He did much better than I expected him to, and even went out on his own once or twice and I have this suspicion that if we do go to Mexico, he’ll enjoy himself thoroughly and start talking about going back shortly thereafter — unless, of course, we get mugged, in which case I’ll never hear the end of it.