It sucks that you'll have to go get one after going through so much aggravation trying to ebay it, but at this point it's for the best. Now you don't have to worry about what kind of condition it will arrive in (if ever) and what that could entail.

Have you looked into music stores that may offer used instruments?

And if you're ever interested in taking up an instrument for yourself...I've got a flute right here you can use any time you like.

__________________
Though I am different from you,
We were born involved in one another.

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

Complete surrender should not just come at moments in which one faces overwhelming odds, but in the calm when it seems one is personally in complete control of one's life.