I woke up this morning, not thinking much about what day it is, until I paused to glance sleepily at the wall calendar. I hadn’t written anything down for the day, but “December 4” instantly struck me as familiar.
Nine years ago today, my husband and I finally closed on a cute, little house that we had discovered months before. The first time my husband and I visited the house together, we just knew. Both of us really liked it, and we were already picturing ourselves there, decorating the kids’ rooms in our heads, mentally planting flowers in the yard.
As luck would have it, the seller had some issues, then the bank had delays, and we went from moving in around Halloween, to dreaming of Thanksgiving in our new home, to wondering if we would be unpacked by Christmas (or ever)! But then the realtor called and let us know that closing was officially scheduled, and we were nervous and excited at the same time. It was finally happening.
My husband already had one truckload piled up that morning before closing, and as soon as we had the keys, we giddily drove over to our new home. One of the first items we moved in was the heavy dining room table, which slipped and smacked my leg. I was rewarded with a large bruise, but we still managed to haul every single box, every piece of furniture, into our new house all by ourselves.
I hung the Christmas wreath on the front door and set up a few picture frames on our new fireplace mantel, to feel somewhat settled in with decorations. I still have the picture I took of our front door that first night, so proud that I was ready to burst. This was ours. This was home.
We love our home, and it means so much to us that we earned this together. All the years in a tiny apartment, we put money away for our down payment, made sure we had savings for furniture, everything we would need to get started in a new home. Each day, each moment, each decision over those years paid off for us that day.
Nine years later, I still get happy when I turn down our street after work, and nothing is quite like pulling into our driveway, walking through that front door into our little sanctuary. It still excites me to come home. I hope it always does.
Sweat & Sparkle 