The house looked tiny from the outside and appeared to have a tiny, one-car garage. Was this even worth looking at? I told Michael about my dream regarding the blue Ford F-150 and he just said, “Well, maybe that’s a sign.”

We met up with Rhonda and climbed the three steps to the aqua blue front door. As soon as Rhonda opened the door, I realized I had definitely underestimated this house. The spacious living room to our right was adorably decorated with a modern grey and white color scheme (something we would see throughout the house). But, what really threw me for a loop was what lay before us. The house didn’t look big from the front, because it originally was not very big. Sometime in the house’s history, someone had added on to the back of the house, adding a family room and additional bedroom. Looking into the house from the front entryway, it seemed to go on forever. This addition meant the house now had three bedrooms on the first floor, a bathroom, a kitchen, a dining room, a family room, and a living room. The first floor alone practically sold me on the house. The family room even had a little bar area, something Michael and I talked about wanting some day. In the bar area, the previous owners had a sign with their last name and wedding date. Rhonda said, “That’s really similar to the thing I’m getting you for your wedding.”

The kitchen had updated, matching stainless steel appliances. The room was painted in the same grey and white color scheme, giving the room a bright, mellow, modern feel. Michael told me later that he knew immediately how much I would love the kitchen. We went downstairs and saw a fully finished basement with a family room, a laundry room, a full bathroom, and two more bedrooms (non-conforming). One “bedroom” had a large storage closet and the other was being used as an office. Michael liked the office a lot and could visualize the office being his someday.

Mom, the laundry room reminded me of you a lot. You always told me your dream laundry room would be on the first floor, it would have a sink, and a counter for folding laundry. This laundry room wasn’t on the first floor, but had a sink and folding counter. It also had something I really wanted, which was a real floor. It had a bright white tiled floor, which I like a lot better than a cement floor. One of the walls is also yellow, which made the basement laundry room bright and not scary (I find many basement laundry rooms scary, don’t judge me). The laundry room even had the perfect spot for my chest freezer. Another connection this house had to you was the year it was built. It was built the same year you were born, something I also saw as a sign.

At this point, Michael could tell I was in love with the house. But, he started to fall in love when he saw the garage. Remember the tiny, one-car garage I saw? Yeah, not a tiny, one-car garage. Apparently, this thing is something they call a “tandem garage.” Basically, instead of having the cars side-by-side, the garage is really long and the cars park nose-to-nose, with a garage door at both ends. The garage was also wide enough to accommodate the large workbenches on one side. This garage was heated, air conditioned, insulated, and has more outlets that I have ever seen in my life. No kidding, there were outlets on the work benches, on the walls, and on the ceiling. Michael counted recently (spoiler alert, we bought this house) and lost count at 112 sockets. That is not a typo. When Michael and I talked about things we wanted in a house, he said he really wanted a space to do his tinkering and building. At his duplex, he had a tiny, cement room that looked like a prison cell. He kept his workbenches and large computer server in there and spent a lot of time building in this room. But, it was tiny, cold, and windowless. This garage would definitely be an upgrade.

We went and saw two more houses, one of which was the house I had fallen in love with on paper. That house turned out to be the worst one. Neither of those two houses held a candle to the first one. They both had things we really hated about these particular houses, but loved about the first house. In my mind, the decision was made.

In recent times, the Enneagram has become a popular personality test. Michael is a 5 on the Enneagram. He is inquisitive, cautious, and logical. I, however, am a 7. I am impulsive, emotional, and not the most logical at times. We make a good pair because Michael keeps me from doing dumb, impulsive things while I can help move things along when he gets stuck in caution. Everything inside me was screaming, “Don’t wait, this house is going to sell.” I told Michael so. He waited for about a day to think and pray to make sure he really felt like this was a good choice for us. When we put in our offer, we were told another offer came in shortly after ours. Like, within a couple hours of our offer. They counter offered, and we accepted.

The next steps were the things like inspections, learning what an escrow is, choosing insurance, and signing endless papers. We got a lot of free pens out of this process, though. Finally, we closed on the house and got the keys.

Michael and I stood in our kitchen, in awe of this thing we now owned. There is something so terrifying and exhilarating about getting the keys to your own house. A house you get to stay in as long you want to (as long as you pay your bills). This was finally a home without a lease or a move-out date. A home where I could hand out candy to trick-or-treaters, put up Christmas lights, and hide Easter Eggs someday. Just somewhere that was ours.

Looking back on these events about 6 months after closing on the house, I can see how much we needed to buy this house at that time. Interest rates were lower than they had been in years when we closed on the house. About a month later, they increased. We wanted to have a house before we had children “someday.” I got pregnant three months later. The garage provided a place for Michael’s 3D printer. Now, during the COVID-19 outbreak, Michael has a place to print face shields. Plus, there’s a good chance that, if we had stayed at his place in Aurora, we would be trying to buy a house now. Buying a house during a pandemic really sounds close to impossible. God clearly lead us to this house at that time.

Mom, I wish you could be here. I wish you could meet Michael and his family. I wish you were at my wedding. I wish you could see your grandchild in a few months. I would trade this house for you in a second. Thank you for setting up the life insurance policy that made the purchase of this home possible. I love you more. 😉

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