Happy stressed home ownership

While the monthly mortgage payment wasn't that much more than our then current rent, it was quite a commitment. (ARMs are nice that way.) It meant we were committed to Houston. It was a larger money liability than either of us had ever signed up for. And, although we didn't realize it at the time, it was a commitment to quite a bit of work. But from the following, we should have had a clue.

After we were "committed," it was fully ours but we hadn't moved in and hadn't yet arranged for any utilities, i.e., no heat, Houston had a freeze. The water wasn't shut off during the transfer. There were spectacular ice sculptures all over the city from the frozen spray of water from the broken water mains. One of the more remarkable of them, at least in size, was just across the street from our then apartment complex.

Marilyn was always attuned to the weather and would actually listen to the reports on the radio and TV. I have always tended to tune them out like commercials. So at her insistance, after dark with the temperature falling, by flashlight since there was also no electricity, I was wrapping the pipe that fed the water into the house with Marilyn holding a flashlight so I could see what I was doing. We then turned on a couple faucets in dribble mode to keep the water flowing. We didn't figure they would notice our little wasting of water with all the mains spewing it for no purpose around the city. Besides, while the water wasn't shut off, I don't know whether or not the account had been transferred yet. Our worst nightmare was that a pipe would burst in the attic and ruin both the ceiling and floor of the affected room and running water is supposed to be more resistant to freezing.

After making sure that our new house didn't wash away from pipes bursting, we had to clean, well, wash. Eventually we would replace all of the carpet and paint all of the walls, except for the walls with the mirrored glass tiles and the paneling in the family room, but for the two of us moving in, all we did was vacuum and wash. We also rented one of those "steam" cleaners for the carpet that was every where because vacuuming alone wouldn't have made the place livable. The previous owner was a chain smoker, which might have played a role in her demise. The house reeked. I don't remember the color of the steam cleaning water but I do remember the brownish yellow runoff and worse looking rinse water as we literally Formula 409'd every square inch of the walls and bathrooms.

Part of the do it yourself steam cleaning was to vacuum the floors thoroughly. It had red shag in the family room, kitchen and the bedroom off of the kitchen. Our vacuum cleaner wasn't powerful enough to suck up coins so I had to stop vacuuming frequently to find what was causing the rattle.

It was a lot of work to move into that house on the cheap but the purchase was truly a happy event. Now that we had a house, we could start working on a family. We did so with enthusiasm, no more Catholic approved birth control, after we first rested a bit.

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Marilyn lost her life to cancer but was able to truly "live" until the very end due to a lymphedema garment from Don Kellogg, inventor and founder of Telesto-Medtech. It is due to the "living" he provided Marilyn and through his suggestion and connection with Saskia Thiadens of the National Lymphedema Network that the Marilyn Westbrook Garment Fund exists. It needs other people's help to remain a living memorial of Marilyn. Please help other people receive the gift of living by donating to the Marilyn Westbrook Garment Fund. Thank you.