They Call the Wind Mariah

November 30, 2003 : 10:41 a.m.
The Elusive American Dream

Well...let's see. Where was I? Oh yeah, our house! We finally DID close on it, so now this bitch is MINE! And I love it!!! Sometimes I just sit and look around and have to remind myself that we aren't renting anymore. That it is O.U.R.S.!

We have rented our entire engaged/married life. We've lived together now for exactly 7 years. That's alot of rent payments in someone else's pocket. Well, our payments are still going in someone else's pocket - but at least now the light at the end of that very long tunnel is that we will have something tangible to show for it when all is said and done.

At first, I only wanted this house for two silly reasons. One, of course, it was a home of our own. And two, we were walking into a GREAT deal being that it is a forclosure and only 2 years old. Therefore practically new AND right now we owe much less than the house is actually worth. We could sell this house right now, having yet made no payments, and be about $20,000 richer. But now, I am really loving this house. I never thought I could love it. It was too plain, it's in a subdivision. It has no character. The house I want in the end is an old farmhouse or some two-story with wood floors and built at the turn of the century. Something with some history. Something with some charm, and character of its own. But now that I have been here 3 months and made it my own, it's taking on MY character, MY history. And it isn't so plain. It was only plain before because the guy who lived here didn't care about making it look loved. It looks loved now. And it is. I love it. Is that odd? I love my house. It's part of me. Us.

We still aren't going to live here forever. I have no delusions about that. It doesn't have everything we want in our "forever home". But the next home we have, now I know it doesn't necessarily have to be an old farmhouse. We can build the house of our dreams AND it can have all the character and history we want. And it will be even better, because it will be us.

Which is another reason I am falling in love with this house. Because not only is it becoming our home, but in a few years, it is going to be the stepping stone we need to fulfill our dream for our family. Our own American Dream.