The Pre-House Era: Flashback

I originally decided to look for a house in October of 2009. This was a decision that was fraught with hidden meanings and symbolic separation—but that’s a different story. I knew from the beginning exactly what I wanted, and surprisingly, the house itself was pretty low on the priority list. I was looking for a place where I could bring my horse and regain my country-minded sanity: a scenic, beautiful, multi-acre mini-farm with a big old fashioned barn, fences, and, as a side note, some place for me to live. I spent hours, days, weeks, and months combing the listings. And, I went to see a lot of crummy houses, places that were in greater disrepair than I ever could have imagined a house to be. Besides being a lesson in patience and perseverance, searching for the house involved a lot of emotional ups and downs that I would never have guessed. Afternoons were filled with drives to distant places, places I truly never could have driven to and from on a daily places. Every drive was full of hope and unrealized promise, and every time it ended with a “We’ll keep looking” from my ever-enduring realtor.
Several times, for non-house reasons, I gave up on the search. What’s deigned to be, though, is what will happen, and god knows I was going to get a house. So every time I stopped I managed to start again, until one Friday afternoon, I was jammed into the frame of my door, tilting my computer to catch a free wi-fi signal, looking at crap house after crap house, when I saw a big white farm house with two acres and those key words that sent chills through my spine: horse property. My pessimistic side attempted to shake the chills off and immediately assumed that the house would be a bust. Somehow, though, I managed to work it up in my mind (so much for the eastern philosophy of no expectations) to the extent that I felt OK about begging my realtor to meet me there on Friday night. [Ok, she needed no begging, as she was always extremely willing to show me houses, even after 6 months.] An hour later, I called my mom and told her I’d found my house. As they say, the rest in history!