Divine Reprieve!

My yesterday afternoon was planned to the minute. I was going to leave the beach house at 1:30 to drive to a frame shop in Dennis, where I had left a something-or-other last fall and as to which they were going to try to figure out what it was. I never did hear from them, so I thought it would be a good idea to retrieve my mystery item before we leave the Cape on May 27th. From there, my itinerary called for me to stop by the Cape Abilities Farm to pick up our last "salad club" box. Finally, I had a medical appointment to attend. Bing! Bang! Boom! Schedule set.

As luck would have it, I could not find the frame shop. The first time I went there, I also was unable to find it without a lot of effort, and this time was more of the same. My GPS wasn't working, so I just decided to forget about it and go to the farm, which I did. That was sad, and, as I have with all places I've visited in these waning days, it brought on the tears. When I was finished there, I had some time to kill before my medical appointment. I decided to go home for about 30 minutes before leaving for the appointment.

When I pulled up to the beach house parking spot, I just happened to run into our landlord on the street. He and his wife live quite a distance away, but, every now and then, they travel here to check out their other house, which sits directly behind our beach house. I call that house the "street house" because it sits at the bottom of the dune on the street. Actually, the first floor of the street house is above the street, such that there are "peek a boo" views of the ocean from the second floor to the right and to the left of the beach house, which blocks the full view. Anyway, when I ran into the landlord, he and his wife were just checking in on the "street house." 

We stopped to chat, and I told the landlord of my love for Sandwich and East Sandwich and how much TSO and I have enjoyed our stay here and how very sad I am at the thought of leaving this all behind on May 27th. We parted, and I went into the beach house to tackle the laundry as I do every Wednesday.

About ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door. It was the landlord. He told me that his wife was inside the street house and asked whether I could stop by. "Sure," I said. A few minutes later, I went to the street house, figuring I could go from there to my car to my appointment. Surprise! Surprise! Mrs. Landlord told me that her husband had told her about our conversation, and then she announced: 

"For the first time ever, we have been unable to rent this house for the month of June. Also, the week of Memorial Day is available at the beach house. If you and Jim would like, you may stay at the beach house through June and then move into the street house and stay there until July 1st. We'll just need to decide on the rent, which I'm sure will not be a problem."

SERIOUSLY?? I couldn't believe it. Mrs. Landlord gave me a tour of the house, which, unlike the beach house, has two bathrooms. Praise the Lord!! It has two bedrooms, plus, a third room with two sets of trundle beds! It also has an upstairs and downstairs deck with views of the marsh. We can access the beach via the ramp. Most important of all, WE GET TO STAY ON THE CAPE FOR ANOTHER MONTH!!

via GIPHY

How is it that, in my moment of despair, when I thought this was all coming to an end, I just happened to be at the beach house, even though I wasn't supposed to be, at the same time Mr. and Mrs. Landlord happened to be at the street house, and Mr. Landlord was outside at the same time I was outside, and we were close enough in proximity to have a conversation rather than just wave to each other, and he told his wife everything I said, and they realized, hey, we were going to a hotel inland but they have a house in Sandwich? 

I'll tell you how it is. It is an answer to prayer!! Of course, it's only a partial answer, but I'LL TAKE IT!

Street House
(Beach House in Background)