As if we didn't already have enough on our plate...We've just sold the Craftsman-style home we have lived in since 1986 and are preparing to move into a brand-new condo this Saturday. As in two days after Thanksgiving.
Yes, we're downsizing. No, we didn't think things would move this fast when we decided in September that it was worth doing. We thought we'd put it on the market and see what happened. We took a couple of weekends to clean out our attic, our basement and closets, and then got it ready for staging in October. Lo and behold, it was on the market for just five days. We received two offers and just like that we were in a position to make an offer on a condo in a new 10-unit development less than two miles west of us in Northeast Portland. After some minor back and forth, our offer was accepted and it was full speed ahead.
I've waited until now to post anything about the move, partly because I didn't want to detract from the other major thing going on in our lives -- planning for this month's wedding of Jamie and Jordan -- and partly because I didn't want to jinx us in case anything went awry with financing, home inspections or the buyers of our home. Our patience was rewarded this week. The morning after we arrived back home after the wedding, we were in a title insurance office signing loan documents to close the sale. Now, all that's left is to sell selected furniture items on Friday, finish packing up and wait for the movers to show up Saturday morning.
So how does it feel to leave the comfort of a place that's been our home for 23 years?
Exciting. After living in a sturdy old house, built in 1926, we're looking forward to the conveniences of a new home where everything works, efficiently and unfailingly. Can't say that was always the case here, with some seriously old appliances and the quirks that come along with owning an older home.
Emotional. This is where we've lived since Nathan was 6 and Simone was 3, the place where we brought Jordan home, at 5 months old, from the foster home where he'd been living before we adopted him. It's the place where we opened our home to a succession of dogs, cats, rats, a rabbit and a few anoles (small lizards that, unfortunately, didn't do too well with us because we couldn't regulate the heating lamp in their very well -- you can imagine the end result).
Liberating. After all these years of watering, mowing and raking, not to mention shelling out for a new roof and gutters, exterior paint jobs, etc., we can finally say goodbye to it all. Owning a home is a wonderful thing, but there's no escaping the responsibilities. There's also no escaping the escalating property taxes. Not that we're against paying our fair share to support the schools, parks and other local services. Taxes are the price of civilization -- something that (cheap partisan shot coming) too many self-centered folks fail to realize or choose to ignore.
Prideful. This is where we raised three great kids and built a warehouse of memories. From our home on the corner, we could walk our kids to school and take them to the neighborhood park. As they grew older, we could see them to the bus stop down the street. Later still, we could listen for the familiar sound of a car, signaling they'd made it home from wherever they'd been with their teenage friends.
Exciting. Did I mention we're excited? After living with, between and surrounded by boxes for the past few weeks, I'm more than ready to pack up and move. Yes, we'll be leaving a physical place. But we'll taking our memories with us and starting a whole new raft of them. Just as it's still sinking in that our youngest son is actually married, so too is it sinking in that we're actually moving. We'll be waking up in a new place, with a small balcony outside our bedroom and a new view of the world.
How cool is that?
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