The moving grind began. Kathy is a trooper when it comes to moving. With all the moves we did while I was in the military she was all over the organization and execution of “the process” as we call it. Getting the kids squared away and the house ready to go was always a drama bomb anyway. Leaving town does bring its own issues with the kids not wanting to leave there friends and the comfort zone they quickly build around themselves. But we as parents try to stay positive and the tout the benefits of the new area and their ability to make new friends. We try to sell the upside that since we’re moving to the country they will be popular because they are coming in from the big city.
We are trying to spend as little money as possible, so we are trying to find a house before we leave Boston and go point to point without a costly stay in a hotel and putting our stuff in storage. Moving in the military spoils you with the relative ease of process and money provided. Now that we have to do it on our dime planning and penny pinching are the name of the game.
The house…We find a realtor on the internet and start the whole processes. This is what we’re looking for, price range, maybe a rental you know the usual business till we find that we want rural setting. The realtors name is Bob something or other and he E-mail spam’s us dozens of listings a day that are mostly way out of our range but I guess he has a job to do also. Maybe he thinks we will try to go big which will score him a bigger payday. Can’t say as I blame him the way the economy is still going, he probably has a part time job at the local 7-11 trying to make ends meet. But anyway a few of the listings catch our eye as possible but in reality they are Kathy’s picks, I just nod and “yes dear” like the well trained husband that I am. We finally see one in the Centerville Virginia area that we both like and arrange a viewing.
It a beautiful area that’s well established with some history mixed in so as we pull up the driveway we realize that the lot is fairly large with lots of trees. Nice two story house that looks like it’s in pretty good condition despite its age. I guess I should look so good after a hundred years. Kathy and the kids see large play area room to chase the dog and I’m thinking I need yard tractor not just a lawn mower. In Boston we had a strip of grass on the street about three feet by ten feet. Just big enough for the dog to feel real grass under his feet when the kids took him out to do his business, which for some reason I always had to clean up. I didn’t want the dog but of course the kids and Kathy think it’s too yucky to pick up the poop so dad gets stuck with the duty. Most of the back yard is fenced…good got to keep the little mutt contained. He’s probably a digger, damn didn’t think about that. Lord knows a Jack Russell tears up enough stuff in the house, I can only imagine what he can do in a whole yard. But anyway everyone is excited even little miss I have a bad attitude gothic girl. Bob is there with the keys in hand a big smile reserved for those folks he knows in his mind will take what he is blessing them with. Kathy already has the “yes its mine” look on her face so I figure I’ll be signing papers. As we enter there the house we see that it has a large kitchen great room connection and sliding door to what looks like a pretty decent looking deck. Cool now I can get a bigger grill, maybe one with a side burner always wanted one with that. Don’t know what I’ll do with it but I want it anyway. There is a small room we can turn into an office next to the bathroom. All the bedrooms are upstairs and the attic is semi finished. The kids run upstairs and already begin fighting over who will have what room and Kathy is mentally painting the place. The master bedroom has its own bathroom. That’s a small slice of heaven. No more fighting with the kids. Bob sees me and smiles…I hate that..He knows...even the dog likes the place, he’s already pissed on four trees. Granted it’s only like ten times the size our old place and the price is actually a little less than what our old landlord was selling the place for...got to love a buyer’s market. “Ok Bob, let’s do some paperwork and see what happens.” He smiles and knows he has a solid sale because we prequalified for loan that’s higher than what the asking price of the place is. The house was priced a bit lower for the area, we just figured that the owners wanted to downsize or get out of the area. Bob wasn’t totally sure; he thought they wanted to be closer to family on the other side of the country. That should have been a sign, getting as far away as possible from that house but hind sight is 20-20. Lesson learned her is that when you here that little voice in your head saying something is not quite right you should stop and listen, and then maybe you might just save yourself some trouble.
