Speechless Sunset

Shot at around 16.30 or thereabouts after another one of those long days.

23.00 of the previous night -- Texted the Viking that I was already 'hanging out' with my mobile, just in case he had to phone.
02.30 -- No video conferencing but he texted me that we were #3 on the judge's agenda, and #1 and #2 were done, so it was our turn.
03.00 -- Call from the Viking!  The Opposition seriously wish to settle.  Am I in agreement?  YES!  The Viking hung up and went back to the negotiating table, and then texted me later about the parts of the estate that I could expect.  The cherry on top of the icing was not one of them, the one that would have guaranteed a clean 50%, but I got some solid sections of cake plus extra dollops of buttercream.

Third Eye did a fantastic job.  I hadn't been attending online for quite a while, but decided that I'd better stick around for this one, and I was glad I did.  I did say a couple of posts back that something was in the air, and I was feeling positive, but needed to keep both feet on the ground.  That feeling was right, too.  Try as I might, I could not go to sleep afterwards, and made such a racket whooping and yelling that AW woke up, and then he couldn't go back to sleep either.

No sleeping late, though.  I had already phoned Mimi after the grand announcement, and now I needed to talk to the Viking ASAP as well.  How did it really go?  What really happened?  Who said what?  He'd already talked to Mimi but there were gaps when she told me.

Will try to keep it brief.  The Viking had submitted almost a hundred pages of Motion and Manifestation, and had just handed over the hard copy to the Opposition's new lawyer, who plowed through it while #1 and #2 were having their turn.  It was too much.  Jay realized very quickly that I had no intentions of backing down unless he had something I could accept.  The judge said that it was going to be a compromise, and we had to work it out.  The Opposition agreed immediately.  The judge then left the room, saying he'd be back after 15 minutes, and there'd better be something substantial by then.  That was when the Viking phoned me.  He had to wheedle each and every piece of estate from Jay, who began by offering peanuts just like he did in 2021.  'You know very well that that is not enough.  The Ellaphant will not accept this.  What more do you have?'  And so I ended up with what I ended up with.  The judge came back and ruled right then and there that there was to be no turning back.  The Viking has now been tasked with drawing up a Compromise Agreement, which he has said he will start on this coming weekend.

Supermarket errands, kitchen duties, some colouring, and the rest of the time was spent MOOCking.  The tendency was to plan on holidays, home repairs, some 'nice things', and money to be returned to the bank, plus the Viking's fees.  But of course we first had to determine what selling all of that would deliver.  Mimi has attended some courses on real estate brokerage and now has several contacts.  (We have dumped the arrogant Doña.)  There's a lot more that AW and I discussed which I don't have to include here, and we had some seriously heated debates, so I simply mailed all our questions to the Viking, who will respond in good time.

To be clear -- this is not a win, but it is close enough.  It will not be celebrated, however, until all legal hurdles have been overcome.  There's an unbelievably large load of things to do yet.  One at a time, patience is key, especially now when it is so tempting to let go of the reins with the idea that the horse knows the way home anyway.  Breathe in, breathe out.

Thankful for the beginning of the end.