House searching

As you can see, we've been pretty busy lately. One of our many activities has been looking at houses, in the hopes of one day moving on up, from our basement condo to a place with more light of day. We're in no hurry really, truth is I would rather wait until a couple of things stabilize, but it doesn't hurt to look. So we have been visiting houses and even made an offer (which was rejected). In the midst of it, every little detail becomes important. We established our needs and priorities. We "need" a big backyard, a nice outdoor space where Gabriel can run and play; we "would like" to have an open kitchen with lots of counter space, where our little family can gather, spend time together and chat while preparing nice meals; we "prefer" a place where the laundry room is not in the basement and where there are not so many stairs; we "wish" we could have lots of closets to store everything and have lots of space to run around,...

So the search can become overwhelming and it's easy to become obsessive. But then we have moments of clarity in which we look at our place and realize that whatever house we live in will be perfect because it will be ours. We will make it our home. In this house, I feel good, because wherever I look, I see life: food in the fridge, toys on the floor, Gabriel's clothes spread out everywhere, pictures and paintings hanging on the wall, messages on the answering machine. Life feels good here, and it will wherever we are because we will make it so. The walls and furniture surrounding us are insignificant in and of itself, but will serve to provide us support, a roof over our head so we can go on with all our daily activities. They will be silent witnesses to all the nice memories we will continue to form everyday. We do and will continue to have a really good life, regardless of the amount of counter space in our kitchen.

So we will keep on searching, slowly, making sure we don't forget to live everyday to the fullest and knowing down deep that, when the time comes, we will trade these walls for others and fill whatever space they encompass with all the life and energy that our little family has. As long as I can hear my baby laugh, I'll be happy.