Twelve words.

Today I went to a certain establishment and requested twelve words be written on a piece of paper.  Something like this:

"______ Two Thousand _____ hundred Fifty Five Dollars and Thirty Nine Cents"

They were happy to do so, but at a cost.  (You wouldn't believe what it costs to have 12 little words put on a piece of paper.)

The good news: We have a bank check for the down-payment on our house.
The bad news:  We're going to have to live in it.

Bonus quip: I was on my way home from work and wanted to catch the bank before they closed at 6.  I was feeling a little twitchy because of what I intended to do there.  No, I wasn't going to rob it or anything.  Just going to have my life savings drawn down in a matter of a few minutes and represented on one little rectangle of paper.  Having been married for 10 years, this constitutes the third time our liquid assets will be where we shall call a "starting point."  (First was newlyweds, second was at graduation/beginning of employment.)  In my frenetic pocket-checking for my wallet, I couldn't find it and determined that I must have left it at my desk.  I clambered back to the car, hopped in, and sped down the street to my office.  Upon getting to the parking lot, I felt a lump in one of my hidden internal jacket pockets and found my wallet.  I returned to the bank in a stupor with 4 minutes to closing time (on a Friday afternoon) and made my request.  And now.  Now I have a piece of paper on it with 12 words on it.  The funny thing is-- someone else will give me a document with about 20,000 words that says I owe them big time for a huge favor they're about to do me (and believe me, I'll pay them big time), and someone else is going to give me a sheet of paper that says I can  assume all responsibility for a piece of land and all improvements thereon (a house!).  Are we sure this is a good idea!?!

[We close on Monday.  Yippee!]