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May. 5th, 2009 12:27 am
Lessons in suburban humility
Back when we bought Chez Fou nine years ago, we were both ridiculously excited by the whole thing. It was just slightly more expensive than our original budget, but we were able to swing it.
We both grew up fairly poor, and had struggled financially in our early adulthood, so owning a home at all was something that we'd originally thought we'd have to wait much longer for. Being able not only to do it, but do it well made us feel incredibly lucky, and perhaps even just a tad guilty, like maybe we weren't supposed to have something so nice just yet. We were both slightly disappointed that it was a spec home--albeit a nice one and not in a Stepford Subdivision--and that it was a long commute, but we didn't intend to stay there forever, so we decided we could tolerate suburban life for a starter home.
( Fast forward nine years )
I'm almost embarassed to be considering buying in a Stepford Subdivision, but it's increasingly looking like that's our best option, if we want to have a newer house in the area we need to be in. We may even end up with one of the little boxes with a tiny strip of grass instead of a back yard. And that kind of terrifies me.
But I admit that I'm far more terrified by the idea of staying where we are any longer. Living at the villa for only just a few weeks has made it clear how far out Chez Fou really is from... well, just about anywhere. And I just can't stomach the isolation anymore. There are certain things we can sacrifice in this move, and that just can't be one of them.
We both grew up fairly poor, and had struggled financially in our early adulthood, so owning a home at all was something that we'd originally thought we'd have to wait much longer for. Being able not only to do it, but do it well made us feel incredibly lucky, and perhaps even just a tad guilty, like maybe we weren't supposed to have something so nice just yet. We were both slightly disappointed that it was a spec home--albeit a nice one and not in a Stepford Subdivision--and that it was a long commute, but we didn't intend to stay there forever, so we decided we could tolerate suburban life for a starter home.
( Fast forward nine years )
I'm almost embarassed to be considering buying in a Stepford Subdivision, but it's increasingly looking like that's our best option, if we want to have a newer house in the area we need to be in. We may even end up with one of the little boxes with a tiny strip of grass instead of a back yard. And that kind of terrifies me.
But I admit that I'm far more terrified by the idea of staying where we are any longer. Living at the villa for only just a few weeks has made it clear how far out Chez Fou really is from... well, just about anywhere. And I just can't stomach the isolation anymore. There are certain things we can sacrifice in this move, and that just can't be one of them.
