Five years ago Ray and I had only been seeing each other for 9 months. We knew very quickly that this thing that we had going on was more than just a “thing”. I think I may have mentioned it before, but I knew within two weeks of dating him that he was the man that I was going to marry. So when he decided to interview and was given a job over an hour away from home… there was never a doubt in my mind that I would move with him… he wouldn’t have taken the job otherwise anyway.
Once that decision was made, we had 4 weeks to find somewhere to live. We spent a few days looking apartments and then a few more days driving around looking at them. There were a few that looked promising, but only allowed one dog… and we had two. *sigh* In the end, we decided to look at a few homes (well townhomes) that were for sale in the area. There were a few that we were interested in and we ended up putting an offer on one… which was declined. After a few rounds of back and forth we decided to move on and put an offer on the second house on the list… which eventually became our home.
I remember spending the first night here… we were supposed to have closed that day and the house was supposed to be ours… but there was missing paperwork and the closing got pushed off to the next day. This place felt so big! It was much larger than the apartment we had been living in. We laid there in our soon to be master bedroom on an air mattress and everything felt so strange. I wasn’t sure that it would ever feel like home… and yet now, five years later, I can’t imagine calling any other place home, which is funny since we had only planned on living here 5 to 7 years.
We started looking at houses again… and saw one that we thought might be perfect for us… and it was. It had an office for Ray, a really nice sunroom, a great looking kitchen and enough bedrooms that there would be room for us to grow as a family… but (and there’s always a but right?) there were water issues. The property was on a high water table, there was standing water in the back yard and it looked like the basement had been wet. We considered what it would mean for us if we were to buy this house. The house was fantastic (did I mention that it was a custom build with a central vac in a fantastic neighborhood that we LOVE), the price was great, but there would have been so many additional costs that we decided to let it pass.
We’ve come to realize that though our home may be smaller and have its flaws, it is our home… and I am so happy that we chose it.
I think you made a good choice. It says a lot when you still love the house after that many years. What gets me is the memories in a place. 🙂
It’s crazy how quickly you can make memories in a place isn’t it?
I’m still searching for my Dream House.
We’ve been in our current one for 8 years… it’s the only house my youngest has known. So while I do like our house (but not love it), it will be hard to move away from the memories that are here.
I can’t say that the home we are in is my dream home, but it suits us well right now and fits great with us in the grand scheme of things… I just need to remember that whenever we feel like this home isn’t so great!