Monday, May 11, 2009

Three years

We were sitting at dinner last night, the kids behaving as well as they could when my husband commented, "I'm ready to put down some roots."

Me too.

I got to thinking - this is the first house we've owned longer than three years.

We started in a one bedroom apartment, then a two. We bought our first house knowing it was our first house. A split foyer tuck under garage, it served the purpose (and the price!) for a couple just starting out. We pulled up green shag carpet and finished the unfinished wood floors. Several gallons of paint and several shop-vacs full of crap later, we had a respectable first house. I decorated my first nursery, then my second in that house. My husband started getting itchy for something new. Though we hadn't outgrown the house, we certainly filled every inch.

We bought our second house not believing we'd need all four bedrooms. My husband started looking online, needing and change. For the most part, I was really content there. In that house I had my first walk-in closet and master bath. I set up a small Christmas tree in the master bedroom. We brought our third, and final child home to that house. Though not at all run-down like our first house, we stripped yard and yards of wallpaper and painted our first red dining room. We never got the basement finished, but there was plenty of potential. I saw teenagers in that house. It was hard to leave, not because of the distance, but because of the future I saw in it.

I went in knowing deep down the move to our current house wouldn't be 'forever,' as much as I wanted it to be. We picked the community for the school system, the proximity to the interstate, and it being one of the south suburbs - for our extended family. There were three houses on the street for sale, all with their own merits. When it came down to it, I told my husband to pick one, that I really didn't care. I didn't want to be too attached.

Knowing in the back of my brain that our next house we'll be in for awhile, I'm being a bit pickier than I have in the past. My husband says it's hard to get a good read on me. One house will have a feature I like, but in another, I'll completely discount the same feature.

Wednesday we leave for our final house hunting trip. It's not that we haven't found a couple that will work, I'm just looking for... more. Not so much more house, but maybe 95% of what I want: big yard, cul-de-sac, close to schools, guest room, sewing room...

That's not too much to ask. Is it?

I'm looking to be in this house more than three years.

...

5 comments:

Merrily Down the Stream said...

I hope you find one you love and if not learn to love one you find.

Nat said...

I think you'll know when you find it. Housing prices are such that even if we wanted to move we couldn't get anything comparable in the same neighbourhood...

It's been 10 years. I reckon The Boy can deal with it when I'm dead.

Anonymous said...

What a trip down memory lane! You've made every house a home and there will always be special memories there! I'll be thinking of you getting your wishes. Love you, Gma

Joe said...

I love my house. It's my third, and probably final home. I bought it last summer.

The kitchen was bad, so we re-did it... and the master bath, and the floors.

Because, how many houses out there sit at the end of a cul de sac with views of two mountain ranges, and have a soundproof music room for the inner teenager?

You'll find what you are looking for, and as the first commenter inferred, if you don't find it exactly, you will "make it so." (Capt. Picard productions)

Mayberry said...

Best of luck on this trip -- let us know what happens.

My husband bought our current house without me seeing the inside of it! (Yes, I agreed to this.)