There's no place like home, there's no place like home
So, Matt and I were very excited because we put an offer on a foreclosure in our area about a month ago. Now, Matt would have you believe that he was not quite as excited about it as I was, but that is only because when we put the initial offer down, I was so excited my skin almost burst. And Matt doesn't get excited about things unless I seem NOT excited about them. He's always afraid I'm doing things based on an emotional reaction rather than a reasonable one, so if I seem excited he gets spooked. That should tell you how excited I was about it, though. I completely forgot to pull out my reverse psychology trick where I act like I don't think I want the place that much, which causes him to rub his chin and say "Hmmmm...seems like a good place to me."
This house may not look like a lot to you if you live in a normal part of the country (or world for that matter) but this home would have been our first single family home yet! We've owned two other places so far, but both were condos. This house would be our own little place with a yard. It's about 100 years old, and has all this old world charm, but actually is in MUCH better shape than you would imagine and really only needs minor "fixes". It's also across the street from a very good friend of mine and her daughter, who is Claire's best buddy.
But then, as we waited for the bank to reply to our offer (apparently banks take a long time to respond to foreclosure offers) we got a call from Kansas. That's where I'm from. Good ol' Wichita, Kansas, where the air is warmer, the lawns are bigger, and you can get from the east side of town to the west side of town in 15 minutes flat. The call was from a bank that Matt had applied to work at a year ago. Apparently, the guy who was supposed to retire at the end of next year decided to retire early, and they wanted Matt to come in for an interview when we were there for Christmas. WHAT?
I used to want to move "home" so bad that I dreamed about it. But just in the last year I've really kinda settled. I mean, trust me, it's still a dream to move there, but all of a sudden I felt less excited than I used to about the prospect of moving. What about the house we are trying to buy? What about our first tiny Chicago yard? What about finally feeling like an adult here in the city? I was just starting to....
But as we drove west towards my old hometown, the air got warmer. Somewhere around St. Louis we had to take off the coats and snowboots we had been wearing when we left Chicago (it was negative 7 degrees when we left) because it was in the mid-60's! Oh my. It felt so fabulous.
And then, when we hit the Flint Hills on our drive from Kansas City into Wichita, the sky got so huge and beautiful. We watched the sun set, and you couldn't see anything except for fields for SO FAR! For a person whose kitchen window is 2 feet away from her neighbors brick house, looking out onto nothing for miles is heaven.
And then we got to my parent's house, where there was a REAL fireplace and a REAL backyard. There is also a living room, family room, and playroom. We have only one room for all of those rooms. The ceilings were tall and the whole house smelled like some kind of pot roast or something. One of my guy friends in high school used to tell me that my house always smelled like a cow just came into our house and crawled into the oven every afternoon. That's right baby. My mom can cook some serious beef...and that's how it should be.
Sammy got his bow and arrow for Christmas (Claire got one too) so they shot them in the backyard. And the arrows could fly forever and not land in the neighbor's yard! We've never heard of such a thing! The kids also rode in the trailer behind Grandad's riding lawn mower, which they have enjoyed doing since last summer. I know you're getting the point by now, but can I just say that at OUR house, you can basically turn on the lawn mower, do a half turn, and turn it off because our yard is so small!
So, Matt did the interview (on the 29th...our 7th anniversary) and we'll wait and see now. I'm not convinced that I'm ready to leave Chicago. I just lined up my whole life for at least a year out with homeschooling plans and our little Waldorf school the new house and friends and church! I just don't know.
Granted, this situation happened again (doesn't he look good in purple?)....but you can't hold that against Kansas. This has been happening regularly lately. Hmmm.....
This house may not look like a lot to you if you live in a normal part of the country (or world for that matter) but this home would have been our first single family home yet! We've owned two other places so far, but both were condos. This house would be our own little place with a yard. It's about 100 years old, and has all this old world charm, but actually is in MUCH better shape than you would imagine and really only needs minor "fixes". It's also across the street from a very good friend of mine and her daughter, who is Claire's best buddy.
But then, as we waited for the bank to reply to our offer (apparently banks take a long time to respond to foreclosure offers) we got a call from Kansas. That's where I'm from. Good ol' Wichita, Kansas, where the air is warmer, the lawns are bigger, and you can get from the east side of town to the west side of town in 15 minutes flat. The call was from a bank that Matt had applied to work at a year ago. Apparently, the guy who was supposed to retire at the end of next year decided to retire early, and they wanted Matt to come in for an interview when we were there for Christmas. WHAT?
I used to want to move "home" so bad that I dreamed about it. But just in the last year I've really kinda settled. I mean, trust me, it's still a dream to move there, but all of a sudden I felt less excited than I used to about the prospect of moving. What about the house we are trying to buy? What about our first tiny Chicago yard? What about finally feeling like an adult here in the city? I was just starting to....
But as we drove west towards my old hometown, the air got warmer. Somewhere around St. Louis we had to take off the coats and snowboots we had been wearing when we left Chicago (it was negative 7 degrees when we left) because it was in the mid-60's! Oh my. It felt so fabulous.
And then, when we hit the Flint Hills on our drive from Kansas City into Wichita, the sky got so huge and beautiful. We watched the sun set, and you couldn't see anything except for fields for SO FAR! For a person whose kitchen window is 2 feet away from her neighbors brick house, looking out onto nothing for miles is heaven.
And then we got to my parent's house, where there was a REAL fireplace and a REAL backyard. There is also a living room, family room, and playroom. We have only one room for all of those rooms. The ceilings were tall and the whole house smelled like some kind of pot roast or something. One of my guy friends in high school used to tell me that my house always smelled like a cow just came into our house and crawled into the oven every afternoon. That's right baby. My mom can cook some serious beef...and that's how it should be.
Sammy got his bow and arrow for Christmas (Claire got one too) so they shot them in the backyard. And the arrows could fly forever and not land in the neighbor's yard! We've never heard of such a thing! The kids also rode in the trailer behind Grandad's riding lawn mower, which they have enjoyed doing since last summer. I know you're getting the point by now, but can I just say that at OUR house, you can basically turn on the lawn mower, do a half turn, and turn it off because our yard is so small!
So, Matt did the interview (on the 29th...our 7th anniversary) and we'll wait and see now. I'm not convinced that I'm ready to leave Chicago. I just lined up my whole life for at least a year out with homeschooling plans and our little Waldorf school the new house and friends and church! I just don't know.
Granted, this situation happened again (doesn't he look good in purple?)....but you can't hold that against Kansas. This has been happening regularly lately. Hmmm.....
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