Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Back to the ol' drawing board

For the last year or so, we've been living with my in-laws out of necessity. And it's not been the easiest thing to do since living with parents has always been a source of conflict and when you're in your 30s and have your own family, the source of conflict is even more obvious. To make matters worse, we sold our first home some months ago. Moving out of it was heartbreaking enough. To sell it ... well, there's a reason why I haven't actually blogged about us selling it. There have been no words. Especially when we found out about 2 weeks ago that our home's new owners have ripped out the entire house so every semblance of us no longer exists there.

Anyway, both Packrat and I found it easier not to say goodbye to the house before the final handing over of the keys. We didn't want to go back. We wanted our memories to be what they were and I think we wouldn't have been able to handle seeing our beloved flat beyond recognition. So we didn't. And we decided to move on. We decided we had to find a new house. Not to replace the old for nothing could replace our first house but so that we could go on and start a new chapter.

We came close a few times but there was always something not right. Until the last weekend when we found a flat, actually 2, that were knocked into one, in our old neighbourhood. Packrat and I knew immediately but we decided to be a bit muted with our response and sit on it, bring the twins in for the baby vibe-meter reading. That passed with flying colours, so the next thing to do was to make an offer, to give a number.

That's when it got stressful because it is a hot neighbourhood and we weren't the only one that the house spoke to (I'm going to have to have a good talk with the house before we move it). For some hours, the numbers just kept escalating as there was bidding worthy of an auction with those little cards with numbers. With every escalation, our blood pressure and pulse rose accordingly. It got to the point where it was a race to the end- who gives the cheque gets the flat. Amazing Race like.

Thankfully, the little bit of athletic prowess and the great deal of mental and psychological endurance to see it through won the day and finally, we once again have a house to call our own. No doubt that comes with its own set of problems, mortgage, renovation, child care arrangements, keeping house, cutting corners to make this really work... but I cannot emphasise enough, we now have our own home. We're no longer vagrants, squatting and at someone else's mercy.

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Ondine tossed this thought in at 23:36

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