Somehow it seems that when one person/family in our family moves (houses, cities, doesn’t matter what!), everyone moves! This may be calming down a bit since our kids are now the house buying mode instead of renting houses or apartments. I certainly hope so. A few years ago we had a stretch of several summers when everyone moved—us and all our children! So as we all find more permanent places, that’s a good thing.
But that time isn’t here quite yet.
Our older son and daughter-in-law bought their first house this past summer. For the most part it’s been a good thing. Recently completely updated, including rewiring, a huge lot for their dog and fun potential for a deck and such. But not long after they moved in they discovered a leak under the house. Long story short, the one thing that wasn’t touched in the redo—the plumbing, because all the pipes were run under the slab!—has now been completely redone. If they have another leak, they’ll be able to actually get to the problem. Although now they are left with repairing the places that had to be cut into the drywall to put in pipes! Still, home ownership is better than renting, even if this was a bit of a hard way to start. And they are settled in a place they can stay for awhile.
Our daughter is now on the hunt for a house, too. Or rather a condo of some sort. The fun thing is that in Boston there are so many opportunities to find such places created in old houses (think late 1800s/early 1900s) or older buildings (early 1900s) turned into condos. She’s always kept her eye on the real estate market up there, but now that she has moved from her post-doc position to her first real job as a full-fledged PhD, she is searching in earnest. We are excited to see where she settles, and it will be so fun to visit her in a home of her own.
Our other son and daughter-in-law—and our two granddaughters—will be moving houses soon in hopes of saving up for a home of their own. Moving with two little ones isn’t ideal, but there are many of us in the area—both her family and ours—to help out, so it shouldn’t be too bad. And though they will be a little farther from us, they will be near Jeff’s office, so it won’t really feel that far away.
Thankfully we are good and settled ourselves. We’ve been in our house 11 months now and still absolutely love it. We wake up everyday so very grateful we get to live there, both the actual house itself and the close-knit neighborhood. My walls are still pretty much blank, but I’m getting to the point where I’ll know what I want when I see it. I just have to keep my eyes open.
I’m looking forward to some years of “settledness” among our family, although I am under no illusion that it can’t change in a moment. Still, there is something quite satisfying in seeing your kids build a more permanent life for themselves and their families.