Because There Were Just Too Many Hours in the Day

Two weeks ago, Sarah sent me a real estate listing for a house down the street from them. She said it was great. I laughed at her and then Thomas and I went to look at it anyway.

It had a strange layout, the sort one would call "custom-designed" on the flyer. And one did! The house was big and the yard was great, but it just didn't feel like home. And I had no interest in going to the trouble and expense of moving just to go across town. Even to have Sarah and Ryan as neighbors again.

But it did get us thinking. Just one week later I saw a listing for a house in Redwood City that was in our price range, larger than what we have now, and--best of all--just 1.5 miles from Thomas's office. So the girls and I went and looked at it and a couple of others on Friday (5/12). Thomas looked at it on Monday morning (5/15). We put an offer on it on Tuesday (5/16).

Now we've gone from not really thinking about moving to making an offer and listing our current house; getting estimates for movers; scheduling window cleaners, house cleaners, painters, the gardener and a stager (not my idea); renting a storage space and truck; booking the Broker tour and scheduling the photographer for the virtual tour. ALL before next Wednesday. Why? Because on Wednesday, we leave on holiday for two weeks. Timing is everything.

So why are we doing this to ourselves? Right now, Thomas has a one hour commute each way. That means that he gets to see the girls for about two hours a day during the week--assuming that Charlotte (as much a morning person as I) wakes up before he leaves at 7:30 to catch the train.

In addition to being a great house with lots of light and space, the new place has an enormous backyard that is, to put it kindly, crap. It looks as if no one has touched it in years--tall, scrubby grass and weeds and most likely, rocks. Lots of rocks. But I looked at it from the deck and saw terraces and an herb garden. Masses of flowers and tall grasses. A hammock swaying in the breeze. Hannah and Charlotte chasing Argus across the lawn. And maybe even another Japanese Maple, since Thomas won't dig up the one we planted two weeks before we found the new house.