So I know that technically we are grown ups, we have passed the party our lives away early 20's (Ryan has passed his 20's almost all together now), we have a child that we are responsible for (still need to be pinched from time to time on that one, not sure how it happened) and we are grown ups.
Now mind you, we have been house hunting for a long while, we even put an offer in on another home with the help of Grandpa and Nonnie holding our hands every step of the way, so why are we so shocked that this time they ACCEPTED OUR OFFER!!!! It reminds me of when we decided, "hey this marriage is pretty good, we both like each other a lot, let's mix it up a little and have a kid". We talked about it for a while, we planned it all out, got the fertility kits, had fun doing all it takes to make it happen, even had a few "maybe this it it" moments before it really happened. Then BAM one January morning I wake up feeling like I've been hit by a truck and turns out we are expecting a bundle of sleepless nights, a dramatic increase in wrinkles thanks to all the frowning coming our way, stretch marks, poo everywhere, and a perfect chubby little boy who stole our hearts even though he is now a delightful little two year old that lovingly tells me how much he hates me when I don' t buy him what he wants which has me run crying to my mom that my child won't be nice to me (an entirely different story all together).
Coming back to my point, when we got pregnant it was like getting on a roller coaster with not many options out. It was an "I can't believe my parents let us do this" moment. Yes we were both well into our mid 20's at the time and had been married for over 2 years, but really how did they let us think we were ready to handle such a huge responsibility!
That's something else about parents, at what age do you stop thinking about their approval or thoughts before you make huge adjustments to your life. Should it be the day you move out on your own, the day you get married, the day you don't have to ask them to help make large purchases, or the day you don't expect Christmas gifts (I'm still recovering from the fact that Santa doesn't fill my stocking at my parent's home, never mind I haven't been there Christmas morning in a long time). Being raised in the south, with very true blue southern standards, I didn't buy anything let alone make any life changing decisions without going to Mom and Daddy first (I'm purposefully forgetting here the absolute terrible nightmare of a teenager I was, no need to bring up bad memories). So you can imagine that little voice in the back of my head telling me "oh crap, they are up to something" when our parent's gathered around us with big smiles and lots of hugs, saying goodbye and leaving us alone with this new little bitty baby our first night at home. A week later with no sleep I realized that those weren't "we are so happy for you" smiles they left us with, they were PAYBACK smiles. Fastfoward a few a years and I have to say we have done pretty well raising this precious little boy and while our parent's are still able to find those "sweet revenge" moments (more often now that we are in the full blown toddler phase), overall our child is healthy, happy, loved, and living not to mention this parent thinks their child is the smartest, funniest, most adorable little person in the world. So at the end of the day we can pat ourselves on the back and say "Good job, we haven't messed this up to bad". Bringing me back to point:
THEY ACCEPTED OUR OFFER, NOW WRITE A BIG CHECK :)
There is a company out there that finds Ryan capable enough to make him the youngest and one of the fastest promoted men in their midst (just don't ask him to do the laundry), and there is a bank out there that has looked over every financial faux paux we have and still thinks we are responsible people who they will invest large amounts of money in (I wonder if they knew our goldfish record, would they still feel this way). All the forces of the universe have come together saying this young family is ready for the next step, Home ownership! So last Saturday after researching homes, spending time in each ones playground and meeting new friends, we walked into a short sale that just came back on the market (previous buyers fell out of financing for 200k) that has been listed at a much lower price to save the owners from foreclosure, its *perfect* (yes it needs to be cleaned more than our dogs who haven't had a bath in an embarrassing amount of time and yes the master bathroom flooded through to the kitchen ceiling and yes it looks like my little sister and niece painted the entire home) a little TLC and it will be a show stopper. Our very patient and dedicated realtor informed us of the market value of the home, adding the cost of repairs and $$$$$ its a great investment, although she has urged us the entire time not to look at your home as an investment first but as your home first. So we came together and made on offer that would be considered LOW taking into the fact that last few short sales that have closed in the area have all been for 3k or less within listed price, and we prepared ourselves for another 2 week wait not honestly thinking we will even be able to get it because very rairly do things work in our favor it seems. Then yesterday said dedicated and patient realtor sent us an email (no she didn't call the woman is on vacation with her family for pete's sake) sellers agent is getting the paperwork together and its time to put up our earnest money in an escrow account! Time to write that first big check of many that paves the way to home ownership!
HOLY CRAP!!!! Did we just buy a house?!? Why yes, yes we did! We put this offer in after the very detailed "trial run" that Grandpa guided us through. We have all our ducks in a row so to speak and we are doing things in the right order, we aren't buying more than we can afford, we aren't opening up credit accounts to deck out our to be new home with new furniture. We are on the right path, but yet there is still that litte voice in my head saying "Wait a second, remember the last big decision we made and our parent's didn't stop us, what do they have up their sleeve", I have a feeling my mom is looking forward to the frantic phone calls in our future that my child has destroyed his room by taking food up there when it clearly needs to stay in the kitchen so the carpet doesn't get stains, or that he thought it was perfectly okay to put up pictures with 4 inch wide nails (yes an exaggeration to make a point), and the day that he has snuck out of his window and shimmed down the back patio to sneak off into the night doing God knows what. And we know Nana and Papa will find those times to just smile and enjoy the joy of payback when we call to vent that we can't believe that the perfectly landscaped yard they always seem to have can't be duplicated so easily, or all those expensive action figures Hadley had to have are now buried in the freshly planted flower garden because he thought it would be fun, or that our son brought home a "party" at 11pm without asking permission and we are in our pjs with no makeup or even a bra. Yes, we now know and understand what those little warning voices are trying to tell us, and that's ok with us, we are ready. We know 60% of the time we will want to run away leaving the other one holding a house with something that has gone wrong (because isn't that what always happens when you own something) and a child that has pushed every last button, but we also know there will be that 40% full of bliss and pride, and in years to come that 60% will be just comical because with the support and love of one another we will carry on.
So while our initial feelings were, "Oh crap, what did we just do", we are now bright eyed and excited about the very stressful and overwhelming road ahead of us. There will be 6 months after closing until Thanksgiving (our first holiday we are having at our home, don't act surprised Dad, Mom told you, remember?!) to turn our little TLC needed home into a super bowel commercial (not show stopper just yet that will take more time and money) !
We just happen to be over 4ft 6inches, have signed a medical release form and have jumped into the world's steepest roller coaster, we are buying our first home!
