My parents bought their first home when I was 8 years old. I remember asking my father when we would be able to move into our new house. He said, "We need to wait until escrow closes." Each night we drove by the new house, and I would ask again and again, and got the same answer. I started to get annoyed. "Who is this escrow character, and why can't he hurry up so we can move into our house?"