Life has been busy happening all around us despite this little memory space being relatively quiet. It has been the wildest spring our family has ever experienced. To quote Fresh Prince: "Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down".
We've mentioned before, on this old blog, our desire to shorten our commutes, but there were so many other factors in play in our lives to make it simply about mileage to work. So many pieces have been moving in the past few years and its really amazing to look back and see small opportunities we pursued or doors that were opened to us that have lead us to where we stand now.
Backing up a little bit...this story gains some traction in 2011. Before I got pregnant with Fiona, Pat accepted a position within his current company that would put him more in line with where he wanted to be in his career journey. It came with some significant drawbacks, but after prayerful consideration, he went for it despite a significant pay cut, a huge commute (over 30 miles each way), and leaving the comfort of a job he'd been good at. We kept our eyes focused on the future and what his experience in this position could ultimately provide for our family down the line. But, let me tell you, this was a rough period for our family. There were so many new stresses in this new job, added into the mix of Pat going back to school a few classes each semester, and Fiona entering the mix. It was rough all over. Things were stalling out at Pat's job and frankly we were all tired of how much time he had to spend at work.
When Pat happened upon his current position, it seemed too good to be true at first, but after the longest interview to hire period ever (okay, it just felt that way), Pat had a new job as of June 2013. This job was a little closer to our house, but still significantly farther that one should want to commute. The upside to this job was not just closer proximity, but more financial freedom and a more realistic workload. We were pumped! So, last summer, we began to toy with the idea of making a move closer to his job (and also mine since I'm south of Minneapolis, just like Pat). We'd had this small dream of living in an urban area that we decided to explore. We attended an open house in the Fulton neighborhood of SW Minneapolis and I could totally picture our family living in this adorable neighborhood. We'd been itching to simplify life, anyways (less house, less yard, less commuting, etc.).
{that cute little house that wasn't meant to be}
Cue us meeting with a few realtors only to discover a recent short sale on our block which would skew our home value negatively and the overall timing of the market in our neighborhood to be not quite right. We were bummed, but ultimately had just been looking for a "sign" about whether or not to move. We settled into life again and didn't think seriously about moving again until this spring when the metro housing market had serious shortages of homes for sale and houses were selling quickly and for more than last year. We met with a third realtor the first week in May and he gave us really positive news. We'd decided that we loved summer in our current neighborhood (parks, splash pad, beach, neighborhood get-togethers!) so we'd think about listing our house after Labor Day.
While laying in bed on Thursday May 15th, Pat got a text from a realtor (#2) we'd met with last year. He simply asked if we were still interested in selling our home and if so, he had potential buyers that would like to see our home the next day. We thought, "why not?" At least it would give us some ideas for projects we'd need to complete before actually listing and we'd get some free feedback. Luckily, I was hosting a baby shower that weekend, so the house was pretty clean : )
On our way home from work, Pat got a call that they liked our house, but not our price! Pat explained that it wasn't something we were willing to move on because we hadn't even really listed our house/put it on the market. A few minutes later, we received notice that the buyers wanted to see the house again and by dinnertime we had an offer that we couldn't refuse. Plus, I knew from the one morning of frantically making beds, wiping down showers, and cleaning up breakfast crumbs that the value of not having our home on the market was certainly worth something. The only hitch was a closing date of June 12th, just under a month from then. Ahhhhhhhhhh!
The few major fixes we'd been contemplating needed to be done ASAP and in a week we'd fixed projects that had been neglected for the past year. Funny how that happens. We coordinated movers, PODS, closing dates, a temp living situation, and found a new home all within 2 weeks. Ugh, it was stressful.
{the last few boxes...never moving again!}
{put a 2 year old in a box with markers - this was nearly 2 hours of fun while we packed up the kitchen}
Here we are, on the other side of the move, and we're still alive! We are lucky enough to be staying with my parents in New Brighton. Space is tight, we still haven't found random items we know we packed, and of course it's a change for our girls. We've kept them at the same pre-school/daycare in Blaine for the summer so we are essentially double commuting (boo!) but trying to maintain some consistency for them.
What does our future hold? After looking at online profiles for nearly every home within a 15 mile radius of Pat's work, we were a little disheartened. There was only 1 house we considered looking at further. But then, we saw a listing for a new construction neighborhood in Shakopee (a suburb about 15 miles south of Minneapolis). We drove into the neighborhood, and it was literally the first time in the whole first week of moving craziness that we exhaled. The neighborhood was so charming with tons of kids. The builder had an amazing promotion going on which ended May 31st, so we quickly got our ducks in a row (while packing up our house) and signed the purchase agreement 30 mins before the model home closed on May 31st.
Hopefully, by the beginning of October, we'll be all moved into our new home. This may be the first summer we'll be wishing for the time to fly by! We'll update more on the house as stuff starts to actually begin happening, but we've picked out our lot and everything inside.
{our lot! Finley says: "Mom, can I swim in the pond!?"...I didn't have the heart to explain what a holding pond is : ) }
All along, our decision to move was always mirrored by the tough decision to leave neighbors we loved. At times, I wouldn't even discuss moving because I didn't think I could ever leave our street - it really was all that I ever wanted in a neighborhood and so similar to where I grew up. But, it came down to our time together as a family and when we realize how much more we could gain if we moved, we knew this was the right choice. Hopefully our new neighborhood can compete on some level with our old one, but I also know that our friends in Blaine will still be in our lives - with a little more creativity to pull it off.
This quote really hits home for us. Our dreams are coming true all in His timing.
