An Unexpected Move

Our team is moving!!

This has been an absolute whirlwind chain of events.  At a softball game towards the end of June, Doreen informed us that her best friend and neighbor Carol was planning to move to Hawaii and August.  Carol was preparing to put her house on the market, but did we want to take a look before she did?  

*shrug* "Sure, why not?"

That Sunday, we met at Doreen's and walked down the street to Carol's house.  Our boys have been to Miss Carol's house several times before, but this was a first for the rest of us.  It was everything we could want in a home.

When we got in the car after touring the home, I turned to Anthony and asked, "So, what did you think?"

Anthony: "No."

Me: "Yes!  It's perfect!"

Anthony: "Yes, but we have a house, and no time to sell it."

Me: "Good point. But do we really know what would be involved?  Let's meet with a realtor to at least ask about selling our home."

Anthony: "Sounds good.  I'll get in touch with a realtor in the morning."

(Ok, so the conversation did not exactly go down like this.  But it's how I'd like to remember it, thankyouverymuch.)

True to his word, Anthony called a realtor who had done a lot of business in our neighborhood over the last few years, and she met us at our house the very next night.  This is when things got REAL. 

The realtor loved our home immediately, insisting that if we just painted one wall in the basement where we'd replaced some drywall, it was ready to show and could be on the market by Friday.  She was confident it would sell within two weeks and that we'd get what we needed to get for it in order to make buying the new house possible.

"But we're leaving for vacation on Saturday," we said.

"That's perfect," she said.  "I'll schedule lots of showings while you're gone.  Paint the wall.  Put it on the market before you leave."  Anthony and I looked at each other.  

Me: "No way.  We're staying."

Anthony: "No way!  We're moving!"

She left.  I cried.  I was so excited about all the new possibilities, but was this really happening?  Could we really leave this house?  This is our first home, the home where we brought both of our children home from the hospital, the home where we've celebrated so many holidays and birthdays and chart their growth on the pantry wall!

Disclaimer (and perhaps needless to say): I get very emotionally attached to homes.  Just ask anyone who was there when my family moved from the home where I grew up to York when I was 18...

So... we painted the wall.  Pants optional.

Uncle Andrew, Aunt Beth, Toni, Aidan, Abby, and Kate arrived a few days later on the 4th of July (along with 25 other friends and family for our July 4th Cookout!), and at some point when we weren't looking, this showed up on our front door:

By the time we left for our Annapolis vacation on Saturday, there was a "For Sale" sign in our front lawn.

By Sunday night, we had our first offer on the house.  By Wednesday, we accepted an offer.  We celebrated over a glass of champagne (thank you, Mary!) with our Illinois family, and started our countdown to Labor Day weekend when we say goodbye to Jean and hello to Heather!