Not A Story I Was Going To Tell

May 22 2021

So many challenges presented themselves along my journey from California to Idaho. Dishonest brokers, inspectors, and lenders made the transition much more burdensome than it should have been. But those challenges led the way to newfound levels of confidence, courage and resilience.

Sometimes it takes a while for all the pieces of a puzzle to materialize before the puzzle is complete and makes sense.

Two and a half years ago I found this house in Idaho that initially struck me as a storybook castle. The architecture was whimsical, the lines of the house were all angled, the brick columns up to the turreted balcony reminded me of Snow White.

Every girl at one point in her life dreams of being a fairytale princess and to live in a castle with her price charming. I had already met my prince charming, but sadly lost him too soon. But here was this castle waiting to be coveted by a dreamer with a vision. So I said yes.

I flew back home, put my house up for sale, and spent all day, every day…for weeks, packing boxes.

I left behind everything I knew. Every favorite restaurant, movie theater, the school playgrounds where all my sons childhood memories were made, the hiking trails I walked the dogs on, and the glorious Dana Point Harbor. So many beautiful evenings were spent walking by all the boats docked at the harbor as they rocked gently back and forth in the wind and the most beautiful sunsets were painted right before my eyes. I left behind every friendship made throughout the years, and tucked all the memories away for safe keeping.

After a 24 hour drive in a truck with 2 dogs, an air mattress, a cooler bag, and some clothes, I pulled into the driveway of this fairytale castle. But somehow it didn't look as warm and inviting as it did months earlier. In August the flowers were all blooming and the trees were strikingly beautiful, but it was now November and the leaves had fallen and the skies were gray. The house was cold, which I quickly learned was due to the heater being broken. It was 48 degrees. No heat, no hot water, and no furniture. The house had not been cleaned from the previous owner and it was filthy. I pumped up the air mattress and tried to make a bed that was cozy enough to get some sleep. I remember the carpets smelled so bad, and because I was sleeping so close to the floor the smell kept me awake.

I got up and decided to wander through the house and familiarize myself a bit. I hadn't been allowed to spend much time in the house before I bought it. I later found out that was by design because the house was riddled with mold and water damage and that smell from the carpets was the result of rotting floorboards beneath it.

As I walked down the stairs to the lower level of the house a cold feeling blew past me and the hair on the back of my neck went up.

It was most certainly not a welcoming energy. I was an intruder. To what or to whom I did not know. I stood at the bottom of the stairs and dropped to my knees sobbing. I was so tired, and so alone, I had nowhere else to go, and I was not welcome in that home.

Then..I just started talking through my tears. ‘I’m here because I love this house. I’m here because I want to make you beautiful again and I want to fill your rooms with love and light. I don't know who you are and I don't know what happened but I just want to make everything better. Please let me do that for you’.

I understand how crazy that sounds…..but at that point I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep. I was already so sleep deprived but I was too scared to close my eyes.

I went back up stairs and locked myself in the master bedroom and sat on the air mattress with my 2 dogs all night with the lights on.

About 630 the next morning I made myself a cup of coffee and decided to go back downstairs again because it was daylight and I felt safer. When I got to the bottom of the stairs…..the feel of the room was completely different. There was no heaviness in the air, and the cold energy was gone. I said ‘thank you’ out loud to whoever or whatever was there the night before.

Fast forward 2 1/2 years…the house is gutted and dolled up with new carpet, window treatments, hardwood floors, new kitchen with new granite and appliances, fresh paint and I even had some of Snow White’s animals from the forest arrive and take up residence with me.

The castle was becoming what I always believed it could be. You could feel the happiness in the walls of this house.

A month ago I received a letter that was meant for a previous resident. This letter was different …it was from Danbury Corrections in New York. It was addressed to a girl who apparently had requested regular updates on an incarcerated inmate. I became concerned when I read the last paragraph of the letter. It said…’We will make every effort to ensure your notifications remain confidential. But if this inmate learns through other means that you are receiving notifications and in turn threatens you or intimidates you, please notify the US Attorney in the district where the inmate was prosecuted and this institution.’ (Danbury Federal Bureau Of Prisons)

I took the letter to the local police department, and after they did some investigating, I was informed the girl receiving these updates was the girlfriend of the inmate. She turned him in for running a major child pornography and sex trafficking ring. They ran live feeds of children being molested and sexually abused across the entire United States. He was a fire department lieutenant based out of Virginia, He was arrested with another man from Kansas and a man from California. The girlfriend lived at my house from 2017 to April 2018. He must have lived here at some point because mail for him came to this address. The house was then sold to a family in April 2018, but they only stayed here for 4 months, then they turned around and sold it to me.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/members-international-child-exploitation-conspiracy-plead-guilty

More investigating revealed that the girlfriend had since moved to Washington and her move had not been officially recorded. Which means, this inmate has my address as the last known location of the girlfriend that turned him in.

I made a request to update her address and told the local police to please make note of the case and the inmate for future reference.

THAT was the piece of the puzzle that explains the bad energy in the house when I got here. I am a firm believer that homes and dwellings soak up the energy of its occupants. I don't know what went on here, but it wasn't good.

I have now learned that missing puzzle pieces don't always complete an idyllic picture, but they do allow you to finish the puzzle.

You have two choices when you complete each puzzle life presents you.

Take it apart, put it all back in the box and walk away.

Or frame it and put it on the wall.

But that’s just my opinion. :)