Well it looks like my house is under contract to close in December. I have had a love hate relationship with that house over the past several years. It has been a great house for my son and I where I have always felt safe and he has been in an A rated school system. However, it is in a city where I never wanted to spend my entire life. I am so ready to move on to something else. Actually for the past several months I have been living in a different state near the coast which is where I have always wanted to be. I can't say it doesn't feel a little strange knowing that that house where I have lived for 19 years, the only one my son has ever really known until we moved into the Murphs house last January, will not belong to me anymore.
I still remember the first time I walked in with the realtor in 1993. I was holding the Boy and as we went from room to room I just knew it was the one. We had looked at a ton of houses while I was pregnant and had finally given up because none seemed right. Then when the Boy was about 6 months old we decided it was time to start house hunting again. We found out about the house from attending an open house the listing realtor was having on another house about 4 miles away. We didn't like that house but we told her what we were looking for and she said she had just listed a house just like what we were looking for down the road. She gave us the address and we drove past it one day. Our first reaction was "oh, it's one of those square houses" (meaning brick colonial, perfectly square, kind of boring) and we forgot about it and kept on looking. After another month of not finding anything, I said we should just go look inside and see what it was like. The realtor said it had everything we were looking for after all. I went by myself (with the boy) and knew right away it was the one. I called my then husband and said he needed to take a look. The rest is history.
We moved in when the Boy was 9 months old. My ex and I ran two businesses out of it for several years - I had a home daycare in it for 5 years until the Boy started kindergarten. I got divorced when the Boy was 10 and I got the house in the divorce settlement. I thought it would be better to stay in it if I could so I could keep life as normal as possible for the Boy despite the separation of his parents. The Boy and I have lived in the house until last January when the Murph and I got engaged to be married. The house was cleaned up and cleaned out and put on the market to sale in August. The Murph just lived a couple of miles away so it wasn't that much of a change. Same school system, fire district and library district and all. The Murph didn't think he had to pay the $15/year library dues until I gave him my dues to pay. He said "I have never paid these. I don't use the library so I haven't paid them in 17 years or so." Well, recently he got a library dues bill for over a thousand dollars and a nice little letter saying if he didn't pay the dues immediately a lien would be put on his house. Poor Murph! He had to cough up the money and pay his delinquent library dues. Such a delinquent that Murph! Just joking of course. My library dues are paid up so hopefully there won't be any surprises when I go to closing next month!
I have to say the house looks great. I have done a lot of remodeling over the past several years and taken out all the nasty carpet and put in all hardwood floors and updated the bathrooms, kitchen and light fixtures. The Boy's room has been remodeled at least three times as he has gone from baby to toddler to teen. We have also had dozens of little bird families born and raised in the birdhouse the Boy built and hung outside on the deck.
I hope the new owners will love it as much as I have over the years. It is a perfect family home. I will miss the house, but it is time to move on to something else. Too bad I can't just pack the house up and move it to Florida. I don't see too many brick colonial monstrosities on the beach though.
oh, kristy! i'm a little bit sad, but super happy about the closing- finally, hooray! i have nice memories of your house, too. i remember a new years eve party that lasted til breakfast the next day...your purple bathroom...i really liked the guestroom, so peaceful and quiet in there...waking up christmas morning when J and i spent the night there and celebrated the holiday with y'all...when you had the daycare stuff set up in the front room...just lots of good times at your house- except for one incident that involved another J and my rental car. haha.
ReplyDeletecongratulations on the upcoming sale! exciting new adventures are in store for you.
xo