There’s no place like home.
There really isn’t. It doesn’t matter what it looks like, or what’s inside or outside, how big it is or how messy it is, there’s just something about … home.
We’ve been in our current home for a little over 20 years. It’s as close to perfect for us as I can imagine.
When we set out looking we had a list of criteria. Beyond the basics like X bedrooms, and this many square feet, we were really looking for things like inherent privacy while maintaining a reasonable commute to work. That translated to a certain amount of property so we weren’t neighbor-on-neighbor as so many other areas seem to be.
We found our home on the way to look at another nearby. As we drove by (it has “street presence”, in realtor parlance) our eyes kind of got big and we decided to note the address to find out more about it.
It met all our requirements. There were only problems: it was too big — it was just the two of us, after all — and it was outside of our expected budget.
Nonetheless, we persisted. Math was done. Budgets were stretched. Offers were made. Counter offers were made.
A home was sold.
To this day it was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. Yes, it’s still bigger than we need (which allows for easy handling of guests, or in at least two cases, long term boarders), and it’s still a touch more expensive than I’d prefer to maintain.
But it’s comfortable and it’s home.
Whenever we travel — be it by air to distant locales, or just a few days away camping — it’s what we look forward to coming back to.
There’s no place like home. For which I’m truly grateful.