runlikejoy

Displaced Stay At Home Californian in rural N. Carolina

The Many Faces of Joy

The Many Faces of Joy

Monday, December 10, 2012

Home

We spent a whirlwind weekend in and around Raleigh this weekend looking for what will soon become Casa McKeon - the most fantastic house for this Irish/Korean/Spanish speaking/pet loving family from Cupertino.  We wanted something charming and we wanted something cute and we wanted something with a little land and we wanted something that was us and finding all those things in one house is a lot of work.  It is also impossible.
 

The first place we saw was interesting, the kitchen was old, there was hardly any storage, a huge burn spot on the dining room floor but the neighborhood was cute and the couple seemed very nice.  They knew we were just starting out so they wished us luck and sent us on our way.  It was like they knew we would not be back.

The second place we looked at was fabulous.  It was beautiful and it was remote and the house was so pretty that we didn't feel like it was for real.  We tiptoed around the place and ooo'd and awww'd and then left.  It really felt like a grown-up house for grown-ups.  Not for a couple of kids like us.

The third house was hideous.  The fourth house was hideous.  The fifth house looked like all the houses my friends had in 1983.  It had bright blue carpet, wallpaper and floral motifs.  Ugly.  The sixth house was brand new.  Brand new and beautiful.  Cookie cutter end townhome unit, community pool, 2 car garage, expensive but beautiful.  The seventh house was cute.  But by this time of the night - 7:000pm to be exact, I knew that I had seen too many houses for one day.  I knew that I needed a break and I needed some food and I needed to go to sleep.

So we got up the next morning and drove back the the last house and looked again.  Everything looks so different in the light of day.  The couple renting it was so nice, oh so nice and we wanted to rent it for them because they were so nice and we liked them.  But then we drove back to the second house and walked around it.  And I stood there and looked at the house and as I photographed it, Gabe walked around the side and said, "this is our house, this is it" and I knew that we were not kids anymore, we were grown ups and this was our very own grown up house.  And so we called the guy and filled out a bunch of paperwork and that will be our new home.

And ya'll come visit anytime, ya'hear?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I am happy for you! Wish you all the best!

Whitney said...

Yay for a grown up house. Maybe it's just a big kid house if thinking about yourselves as grownups is too much. We have skewed perspective living in cracker jack boxes in Silicon Valley. Can't wait to see pics. You deserve it. So when can I book my ticket?

Runlikejoy said...

ANYTIME!!!!

Helen said...

OK, I am finally catching up on your blog (although I haven't updated mine in months -- or years but who's counting?!)

So glad you found *your* house.