Mission: Find a Yard

When we were discharged from the hospital just a day and a half after Sofia's birth, like all new parents, we cautiously packed her tiny frame into her car seat, arranging her and rearranging her.  While Daddy drove the car, Mommy sat in the back next to the baby, certain that her newly honed mothering skills would be needed during that 25 minute drive (for the record, they weren't).  When we arrived at our destination and the car was parked, we made the trek, the long, oh-so-public trek up the wind tunnel that passes for a sidewalk to our condo building, past unit after unit of other families who had done the very same thing at some point.  We made our ascent up the flight of stairs, which suddenly seemed so mountainous now that we were holding such precious cargo.  We reached our landing, shared with our neighbors from three other units, punched in our key code, opened the door, and stepped in.  We were home.

Our condo has served us well.  It houses Sofia's toys, clothes, and books, all of which seem to multiply nightly while we sleep.  It contains our wild beast of a house cat, Rufus.  It gives us a place to relax, rewind, reset.  It has been our home.   

Within a couple of months of bringing Sofia home, we put our home up for sale.  Our goal was to move into a single family home.  A place with our own driveway, fewer immediate neighbors, and a yard.  A yard filled with trees.  A yard to plant flowers and vegetables.  A yard for squirrels, chipmunks, and bunnies to frolick (species which are exotic around our condo thanks to the lack of large trees).  A yard for Chris to mow and rake, shovel and blow.  A yard for barbecues and parties.   Most importantly, a yard for Sofia to run and play and scamper.  A yard for her to have the kind of childhood Chris and I both had, one filled with the simple pleasures of swinging in the sunshine, riding bikes up and down the driveway, catching fireflies.  A yard.

Of course, we were quite hopeful at first that our condo would sell by that fall and that we would share our first Christmas as a family of three in our new home.  Summer, fall, and winter passed.  Spring came, and we were still in the condo.  This time, we were cautiously optimistic that our condo would sell by the fall and that we would get to have our second Christmas as a family of three in our new home.  Again, the seasons passed, and still we found ourselves in our condo.  By this time, Sofia was running and jumping and yearning to be outside.  So, outside we would go, walking to two little playgrounds within our complex or drawing with chalk out on the shared sidewalk.  All the while, we were dodging piles of dog poop ignored by their owners, side-stepping sticky puddles of unidentifiable liquid spilled by other children, and picking up and disposing of lots of trash - Sofia just couldn't help but to pick up bottle caps, wrappers of all colors and sizes, broken toys, abandoned snacks, and the like.  It was as if the trash beckoned to her.

After nearly two years on the market, the pressure of keeping the house tidy at all times, the seemingly endless parade of prospective buyers coming through to assess the condo, FINALLY, we received an offer, and we gladly accepted.  We were free to hunt for houses!  We looked high and low, near and far.  We drove around to scope out different neighborhoods and to size up potential neighbors.  We examined tax records and school districts.  We studied listings and photos posted online of home after home, certain that the right one was somewhere out there.  For reasons too numerable to list, each one fell short of exactly what we were looking for.  Until today.

Today, we saw a quaint, tidy house, the exterior reminiscent of a gingerbread house.  Inside, it had two full bathrooms, beautiful hardwood floors, three bedrooms, and a space to be used as a playroom.  It had lots of floral, grandmotherly wallpaper and dark pink bath tubs and toilets.  It had a smallish kitchen with decades old range and dishwasher.  It also had a yard.  A glorious, lush, green yard with lots of trees and flowers, a small pool, a sturdy white fence around a good portion of the back yard, a beautiful deck, a treehouse, a detached two car, heated garage.  A small toad crossed our path as we wandered around and reminded us that a creek was just a short ways down the road, so likely much more wildlife regularly traverses the yard.  The birds were chirping and the breeze was blowing.  We envisioned our vegetable garden off past the pool.  We staked out a spot for a swingset.  We could see Sofia learning to ride her bike in the driveway.  We knew we were home.