Selling the House

We’ve received a counter offer this morning on our house in Bulverde.  And of course we counter-offered.  This could be it.  And so I ask myself what does that mean?  First it means we need to get the rest of the stuff out of the house and my husband needs to clean out his garage of all the tools he has amassed over the 30+ years we have been together.  No room for those in an apartment.  Our son has been living in our house, one because he had not moved out of the house, secondly because we still have animals to disperse when the house sells and thirdly because it is nice to have someone living there to keep up the yard, pool and such for showings.  90% of the house is empty, except his bedroom, bathroom and a few items left in the extra bedroom such as the futon so we have a place to sleep when we need to go back.  We are still waiting to see if the counter offer is accepted.  It is $10,000 less than the price we put on the market, but we are both ready to see this part of our lives close, well at least I am.  So I ask myself again, what does this mean?  How will it affect us?  One thing is we can pay off all of our debt.  That in itself has huge ramifications.    What does financial freedom really mean for me?  I have been trying to pay off debt for so long it has become my mantra, along with losing weight and being happy.  My Ego tells me I will be so much happier when I have no debt, lose all the weight etc…..but I know the trap.  I have lost weight before, through much exercise and starvation, and well I may have happy for a little while, but then the happiness was just not worth getting up at 5:30 every morning and exercising for an hour and half and not eating.  So I struggle with what debt-free means to me and will it really bring me happiness?  There will be one less thing worry about, but what worry will replace it?  (I hear an Alanis Morisette song in my head…..)  Angst.  Thoughts.  Why?  Did I win?  So what if I did?  So what if I didn’t?  And who am I winning or losing against?  All these thoughts surrounding the thought that we might have sold the house and all the while my background noise, “don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” Who comes up with this stuff?  Ramblings of a normal person trying their best to live a normal life.  Whatever that is.