My husband and I dated for five years before getting engaged, but it wasn’t a timeframe or financial security or a baby on the way that finally sealed the deal. It was a house. For me, the desire to be a homeowner came suddenly. I always figured we’d buy a house eventually but I had…
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Houses That Aren’t Mine
I have a confession. Please don’t judge me. I don’t hurt children or animals. I don’t sleep around, steal (on purpose), or wear a regular bra with a strapless shirt. I do, however, wear white after Labor Day (I’m sorry; it’s a stupid “rule”). But. I stalk owners of the homes we didn’t get. We…
Chicken Coops and Other Homes
I tell people I haven’t moved much in my life, but that is not exactly true. The true part is that I haven’t moved permanent addresses very much. I’ve lived in four homes (all in the same small West Michigan city) my entire life, and one I was too young to really remember, let alone get…
Three Lessons Moving Taught Me
We moved a lot when I was a kid. By “a lot”, I mean we averaged a move a year. We lived in everything from apartments to mobile homes to houses. From two streets over to across town to across the state for two months one summer and then right back to the very house…
In Limbo
I keep opening the wrong drawers. I have checklists for my realtor, for the mortgage broker, for what needs to be packed for storage and what needs to be packed for the immediate future, and I think I have everything together — except I can’t find my underwear. My dresser has been organized in the…
When You Just Know
Editor’s Note: I am going to try to stay out of these posts as much as possible, however, I have to step in and say Congratulations Rach! Her baby boy was born yesterday morning and he is a doll! I definitely believe in the old adage that says you always find the one when you’re not…
Writing Home
For so long I have been holding onto a certain dream. Sometimes it felt like it was within my grasp, other times I felt it slipping through my fingers. Still other times, I had to forcefully forget about it so that I could be grateful for what I have. When I pictured my life, I…
How To Explain Marriage to a 3 Year Old
I see him looking up at the walls, eyeing those pictures. In that little three-year-old brain of his, he is wondering if those people in the pictures are really his Mommy and Daddy. He is questioning why Mama looks like a princess. He is trying to remember if he was there. Every once in a…
Not Crying Over Spilled Milk
Text message. 10:24pm. Tuesday night. Hi. Any idea when you’ll be home? When I arrived home from work earlier that day, I didn’t automatically run to my bedroom to take off my bra and throw on sweat pants and put my hair in a ponytail, like I normally do. In fact, that morning I had…
Book Review: The Comfort of Lies
This book is my nightmare. I remember back when I was engaged to Dan, waking up in a cold sweat and calling him to make sure that he still loved me and he would never leave me or cheat on me. In my dreams I would catch him canoodling with another woman or admitting to…
Grownup Time? What’s That?
My five year anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks. As such, I have been thinking about finding some alone time with my husband, if even just for a meal. In fact, as this is our fifth wedding anniversary, we were planning to take our first vacation since the honeymoon, kid-free. Alas (or,…
