We'd spent the whole weekend having the "What do we do if we don't get this house because we're pretty sure that we're not going to get it and we need to be emotionally prepared when everything falls through" conversation. We were having a pretty nice pity party, with the table set for two.
When the call came Monday morning that we passed our final loan approval with the USDA without a glitch (the first step of our process to NOT have a major glitch), we were kind of dumbfounded. We set the closing for Wednesday morning; but, even then, I don't think either of us really expected that it would happen...
That we would get this house. That it would be ours. Forever.
Even during the closing, when there was a slight snag about the use of Adam's full middle name or initial, we were pretty aloof. (We were just shocked that it wasn't MY name that caused any problems in this process!)
"Oh, you mean it might take a few days more? No biggie. We're used to that. You know, we don't have to be out of our apartment until Halloween, so we've got time."
But there was an immediate fix to the snag. Thank goodness for technology and quick secretaries who can amend things and e-mail them over immediately!
And then...it was done. And no one was more surprised than us to have the key in hand!
(No, really, there was just one key...for the entire house.)
It's been over a week since we got possession of the house. And, honestly, it still doesn't feel real. I keep telling Adam that I feel like we're squatters in this house and, at any moment, someone is going to come and say, "I'm sorry, you have to move out so that the real owners can have their house back." I cry every single time I drive to the house. Every. Single. Time.
We are in awe. This is truly our dream house in every possible way. I remember, last fall, when we first started thinking about houses and we kept saying, "There is a house that is perfect for us, and we will KNOW which house is supposed to be ours." We had people who suggested that we find a house that we "liked" but not to hold out for a house that we "love" because it simply doesn't exist. We had some who kind of scoffed and snickered at our desire for land. I remember Adam saying, at Christmas, that he wanted about 4 acres. We ended up with 3.93...it's close enough for us!
So, what do you do when you get a ginormous house that is all yours and you've lived in a tiny apartment for the last 10 years?
* Lay in the middle of the living room floor and drink champagne
* Buy a grill and make hamburgers on the deck* Yardwork!
* Vacillate between being so overwhelmingly grateful that everything lined up perfectly for us to get this house and laughing hysterically that we somehow pulled this off!
* Spend all of your time and money at the hardware store
* Make lists of things that you still need to buy that you never even thought you might need
* Explore the house
* Clean up dead mice in the basement...puke!
* Get a dog
* Periodically say, "Can you believe that this is our house?", "This is the life," and "We are so lucky."
* Strategically plan for how to transition the kittens to the house
* Try to figure out what certain parts of the house are called
* Have friends over and show them around the place
The couple selling the house are a brother and sister who were selling their childhood home that their parents moved into in 1957. They were gracious enough to give us a summary of our neighbors, tell us some stories from growing up in the house, and to give us the abstract of the house, which tracks the deed of the house all the way back to 1835! There is a sense of peace that comes from knowing that there were happy memories attached to this house.
The brother said, "I've thought about moving back in here myself, but this house just really needs a family."
(Sob.) We're working on it.
