However, it's not so easy to find a place to live from fifteen hundred miles away. I looked at online classifieds and housing lists for students and talked to people about openings, but nothing felt right. The summer was stressful enough and I didn't want to spend any more brain power wondering where we were going to live.
So we made a decision. We would move back to a place we had lived before. Now, since I'm very careful to not name our specific location, I won't tell you where we live. But I will tell you we lived here before we had kids. We've upgraded from a two-bedroom to a three-bedroom, but otherwise the layout is very similar.
And that's a little bit bizarre.
Why, you ask? Because I now have two pictures of this living room in my head, the past room and the present room. Even the smell of the carpet is the same. It almost feels like we've stepped into the past. Except that now there are five of us instead of just two. We fit fine then; it's a little bit cramped now. Not living-in-a-hotel cramped, but tight nonetheless. And about one third of our stuff is still in our storage unit.
The downside (other than the odd feeling of deja vu) is that we do not have a dishwasher or a washer and dryer. I now have to schedule trips to the laundromat and budget time to do dishes. And perhaps to some that's not a big deal, but I'm one of those that sits with my laundry, so that takes up quite a chunk of time. I did try paying Peter to do the dishes (one penny per item), but our boy has such an active imagination that he took an hour and a half to wash fifteen dishes, and that was not worth the money.
My point is not to complain, but rather to say that living here requires a lot more work from me. I thought I was stretched thin before, now free time is spent sleeping, or maybe (if I'm lucky) grabbing a quick shower. Hence the infrequent blog posts.
The benefits of living here? There is a lovely sense of community. We're not the only family with kids living in our cul-d-sac. Including Peter, there are five kids from his first grade class within a two-minute walk. He's never been able to run over to a friend's house (with mom trailing behind of course) to see if they can play. I also enjoy being able sit at the park and chat with the moms while the kids play. And a number of our neighbors are in Bryan's program, so it was like we had built-in friends. It's also beautiful here. The lawns are well maintained and there are so many trees.
We can live anywhere for a year, right?
4 comments:
Yes, you can live anywhere for a year. :) Way to look at the positives!
You bring up another interesting point. I know you have your children help you when they can, but children should have responsibilities that they can own. (We did not do particularly well with that.) Peter is not too young to help with the dishes or take out the trash. All three can help put away their folded clothes. The problem, of course, is that it takes more of your time, not less to turn such reponsabilities over to them.
Oh that is so funny! Do you know how many times Erik says he wishes he could move back there! I always remind him how different it would be now with 3 little kids. At least you have the 3 bedroom. We had a portable dishwasher when we lived there before, but I know that might make an already cramped situation, even worse. I really do miss the nice community there and you are right, it is beautiful outside. It's only a year. You can do it!!
It's funny because our a
partments kept getting smaller as Jordan progressed with his career. His internship and first job post MBA led us our two smallest apartments (if you could even call them that). It took a few more years to finally spread out a little. Of course things are feeling tight again in our first home with 3 kids, but like you, we are choosing the culdesac, trees and great neighbors over space....for now. I'm sorry about the laundry and dishes, that sounds awful....Good luck!
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