I love my house, I really do. I love the kitchen and the dining room. I love my new craft room. I love my back patio looking out into our messy, weed-filled garden. I love the crabapple tree we planted a few years ago, and I love my roses planted in honor of my grandmother. But I don’t love its location – the fact that we’re on a corner with no way to make our back yard feel more private, or the fact that we’re on a main (busy) street that is frequented with police and fire sirens as it’s the only direct road to wherever they need to go.
We’ve been “looking” at houses online, though we’ve only managed to actually walk through one so far. The other I really wanted to look at – a house on 4 acres – was under contract the 2nd day it was on the market. It’s like I’m reliving the house hunt we had 8 years ago. Houses within our price range are either trashed, or they’re foreclosures and get sold faster than it takes to get an agent to respond to me. It stresses me out, mostly because we don’t need to move. There’s nothing wrong with where we live, despite the things I dislike. We’re in a fantastic neighborhood and I’m close to a school so Declan will have plenty of kids to play with as he gets older. We’re on the edge of this gorgeous neighborhood with big houses and the whole thing feels park-like.
So my new mantra is this: “we’re fine where we are.” There’s no need to stress about places being sold before we can even contemplate it. There’s no need to rush. We’re fine where we are. If it takes us a year to find my next “dream” home, then so be it. We’re fine where we are. In the meantime, we can keep saving up money, keep paying off debt, and keep doing what we’re doing. Eventually the right house will come around. And, if not, eventually we’ll have enough saved to build my dream. One day, eventually, I’ll be able to wake up surrounded by nature with deer in my backyard. I’ll have my chickens to tend, eventually. Just not today. Not tomorrow. Probably not even next month. But we’re fine where we are in the meantime.
