Still breathing

May 25, 2020 Monday

From: Sassy
To: Brett
Sent: Mon, May 25, 2020 at 10:22 AM
Re: Perspective

Hiya Brett!

So wonderful to see your message and know you are still breathing! You were up late!

Cherish your time with your kids. I haven't seen anyone except Hubby in a long time. I hope I can get to the place where it doesn't seem too risky.

Thank you ever so much for being curious and offering your perspective on my condo situation! It means more to me than I can say. You ask good questions. I don't want to burden you with all this. Such a non-sexy topic! However, it helps a lot to have someone else affirm that it's outrageous for me to pay for the repairs, especially the second time. You are the only person who has taken the time to pay attention and offer advice. It did cost me the deductible and an increase in premiums, but they were small amounts, fortunately, so I am trying not to let "the principle" of it justify moving.

The condo board meets this week - the building manager said he will propose that they pay for the repair in my unit this time.

I am also waiting on our realtor to tell me her estimate of we can get for my place, so I know what we can afford in a new place (with money leftover for any renovations there or here, and perhaps new furniture and even some more money for my retirement fund, and the capital gains situation.

I haven't made up my mind about moving. I am ambivalent about my options. I am keeping a list of pros and cons and options and keeping an open mind. Nothing that fits our criteria has come up on the real estate listings. I am not going to move unless we can get all of these (for the perfect place I would put up with the pool). So it's not going to be huge - the place we saw had 1 extra room and each room was slightly bigger. And I don't do much cleaning myself. For a much lower HOA, I can pay the cleaners a bit more!

Real estate criteria

• 3 bedrooms or large 2 bedroom
• 2 bathrooms
• Garage or covered parking
• In-unity laundry
• Allows cats
• Central Air or Heat Pump
• No stairs
• No pool (don't want to pay HOA for it)

My theory on the COVID #s is that we are doing a fantastic job of testing and that raises the case numbers. It's not that more people are catching it, it's that the state is finding the people who have it and having a chance of quarantining or treating them. The number the scientists talk about is the R0 (R-naught) and that is below .8 - anything below 1 is considered a very good sign that the virus is not spreading that fast. It's clear that we still have a ways to go and a lot to learn, but I have glimmers of hope. Vaccine or treatment... hurry up!

It was sobering to look at the numbers for Alaska. The Iditarod folks were so worried about spreading the virus to the wilderness checkpoints, so I looked up the statistics to see how that worked out. The entire state has 404 cases with 10 deaths, and the checkpoints that drew the biggest crowds had like 2 cases and no deaths. I'm guessing they aren't doing much testing, but it still looks like the race didn't make things worse.

I hope golf will be fun! The weather seems to have finally turned a corner toward spring!

Would you be interested in talking with me? On the phone or Skype or Zoom or Google's new Meet program? I'm not sure if it would be good or torture, but I am open to it if you like and can find a time when it's less risky. I try not to miss you, but it's getting tougher, especially since it is unclear when it might be possible to touch you and see you smile.

Thanks again for your condo thoughts! Have a peaceful Memorial Day!

-S