Beginning of a Great Adventure

January 4, 2010

"I guess it's true what a friend said to me

He said, 'Lou, Lou, Lou,

Beginning of a great adventure."

For ages, I'd been watching an adorable old-fashioned farmhouse with a purple front door ride the wild waves of the local housing market.

It fit all of my requirements: it was tiny, and therefore -- I reasoned -- I could easily learn to "handyman" enough to handle such a compact crib. It was cheap, and getting cheaper as the market sank to its lowest valleys. It was smack dab in the middle of the Willard School district, ranked #7 of elementary schools in the state of Illinois. Score! And it was just three and a half blocks from my parents' house, a ten-minute walk to and fro, very useful in case of emergencies for either party (which seem to happen somewhat frequently when you're a single mom and your parents are in their 70s).

Best perk: no doorbell. Just a little brass mole knocker, much to my delight!

I am harassed weekly by Jehovah's Witnesses, environmental petitioners, and political hopefuls, and they drive me nuts not only because they wake sleeping babies (so not cool) but because they also serve as a constant reminder of my inability to say "No, and please go away" to any and all.

But I digress.

So the house had dropped several times in price over the course of the year, and one day I spontaneously decided to contact the homeowner's lovely realtor, Gretchen Brewster, more out of curiosity than anything else. She arranged a visit to the house on the following Monday.

The online photos I had practically memorized by now were not enough to give me a good visual on the house's interior, I told myself. I also cautioned myself repeatedly that it was just a scouting expedition, and in fact, I had looked casually at other local houses on and off since Ayize was born. And yet, something about this particular house tugged at my heartstrings for reasons I didn't understand.

So...our day began.

We headed to the library to meet Jeanine and Brady in the morning, and the boys had a wonderful time running along the aisle edges;

creating imaginative fender-benders using the library's toy cars;

and sitting in kitchen sinks.

Ayize went down for a nap the moment we got home, tired out from all his antics.

My sister, Akari, had been kind enough to offer to babysit Ayize on short notice, so I dropped him at her place and ran d0wn the street to see the house.

I was totally enchanted.

There was just a wonderful feeling that enveloped me from the moment I walked in. It really felt like coming home. This was a house whose long-time occupants (23 years!) had truly loved and nurtured it. Scott and their daughter had embellished it with many neat aspects of their personalities, but it was Nancy who had really put her stamp everywhere. She is an artist, and she incorporated her fun, beautiful, bold, funky talent into every nook and cranny. I loved the place the second I walked through the front door.

I knew, though, that I was being overly emotional and completely illogical because the house itself was impractical for a number of reasons. Still, walking out the door, I experienced a great longing to make a home here, in this house, with Ayize and our animal menagerie, and the pang was so great it was almost physical. Certainly nothing I had experienced before in any other home viewing. Still...I realized it was probably not in the cards, so I headed to Akari's house with a heavy heart to pick up Ayize.

She reported that he had been a very good boy. I was so proud!

Back home, he was having a snack when my cell rang. It was Nyika calling to ask us over for a late-afternoon playdate. Ayize jumped at the chance to see "Kai" (his universal term for either girl!) so off we went.

The playdate began with his very Duran Duran posturing (actually a ruse to keep poor Kayla pinned in the corner)...

...and ended in a very cozy chatting session with Kai Pie, during which he eloquently explained the finer aspects of "choo choo" trains to her using expressive hand gestures and sound effects.

Home we went, dinner ate, and off to bed.

Little did I know that the root of my future dream house had already taken hold in the soil of my mind and would not be easily shaken loose!