Friends, I am so happy to let you know that we are finally moving! We are buying a house that is about double the size of the condo we have been cramped in for so many years. It's in a neighborhood that has covenants to prevent the trash and Sandford and Sons look that our current neighborhood has. The streets are clean, the yards are well-kept, it's bike-friendly, the neighbors acknowledge you and wave when you drive by, and people take pride in their homes and possessions. In short, "we're movin' on up"!
Speaking of song lyrics, what's a move without a playlist? If I didn't tell you it was about moving, you may think it's a breakup song list. I guess in a way, it is. I've lived in this condo for almost fourteen years. My now husband joined me eight years ago, but prior to that, it was just me and my dating foibles. Between my mid-twenties and early thirties, you could say that I was "sewing my wild oats". I had fun, but there was also a lot of heartache. A long-time friend said that within a year or two after moving in here, I started having neighbor troubles and things went downhill from there. That's a long time to be depressed about where you live.
That same friend suggested that I turn all of the negatives into a gratitude list about moving. For example, rather than getting frustrated that I can hear guitar practice through the wall, now I can say, "only x number of days until we never have to worry about that again!". We have a literal countdown calendar on the fridge. As of today, there are only sixteen days until the act of sale!
Going through this home buying process with my husband is something that is bonding us for life. While that seems so obvious, I mean it in that working together to make this dream of ours come true is further proof that we really are a team with the same interests and goals. Sure, we're two different people who go about life in different ways at times and we don't always understand each other's reactions to situations, but this is us getting down to business and things are going pretty smoothly. That's a really good and reassuring feeling.
Our kiddo is still not nearly as excited as we thought she would be about the process, but she is looking forward to decorating her new room and having her own bathroom. She's already planning sleepovers and hoping to make some nicer friends. As her parents, we are looking forward to nicer kids for her to play with also, in addition to the debris-free streets to ride her bike on to the neighborhood park. It's a huge sigh of relief to finally be able to say, "the dog days are over"!
