Stewart and I have a five-year plan to move back to Connecticut and stay there. Well, it was a five-year plan 2 years ago. That means it should be a three-year plan now, but it’s still sort of a within-the-decade plan. Ideally, it will be by the time Kyle starts kindergarten. So much has to be figured out before we can make any big moves. But that’s a story for many other posts.
Still, it was fun to check out the area near where my parents live, just to see what housing opportunities might be out there for us. Since Stewart was with us in CT for 12 days, we used one of those days to pile the family into the minivan and drive north from my hometown along a back road into the woods. We drove through four towns, just looking at the scenery and imagining what our lives would be like. The big thing for me is proximity to my family. If we can get what we want within a 15-minute drive, I’m sold.
After three weeks of living in CT in August, and 25 years of living there year-round, I know what I want. Enough land so I don’t have to listen to my neighbors’ dogs barking, central air and a screened-in back porch, a large front porch for a rocking chair (or two), two bathrooms (or 2.5 if it’s more than one story), and a hidden staircase. Okay, the hidden staircase isn’t a dealbreaker, but it would be so cool!
I know this sounds like a lot, and it is. But we are in a great position when it comes to real estate. Moving from Los Angeles to anywhere else except maybe Silicon Valley, we’re going against traffic, so to speak. We can at least dream big.
I was 22 when I first came out to California for a college friend’s wedding. It was in San Diego, but I first flew to Los Angeles to visit Auntie Lisa, so I got a taste of both cities. One week here and I was sold. I wanted to move to California so badly I would cry about it, wondering how on earth I could make it happen.
I feel that way now about moving back to Connecticut. I hear that Chris Daughtry tune on the radio and it makes me ache for this dream. As much of a pain in the rear it was to travel with the children, I hold these hometown stories in my heart very tightly. They help me get to the next time my parents will visit, or the next time I get to go home and see the rest of the family and all of my friends.
Now that we are back, we’re getting emails about homes or land for sale, thanks to good old Joe. Last week we got a huge batch of home listings and one of them was perfect. I wish I could just fast forward through all of the uncertainty, the searching, the packing and moving, the saying goodbye, and just be home.
If you need help packing or moving…..
Hey! You will be LOTS closer to me!
I wish I had a “home” like that. We moved around a lot and the place my parents live now is not home to me. I wouldn’t want to move there, but I wish my kids were closer to their grandparents. You are fortunate to have so many memories in one place.
Wow – those trees, those hills, those seasons. I want to move there too!
This made me cry a little bit.
I think it’s great that you and Stewart have a 5 year or decade plan.
I don’t ever plan on leaving New England these days but I know b/c of that I will never have my family within driving distance again. And it’s tough. I hate having family spread out all over the place (with divorced parents to boot) and I know how lousy it can feel to want to just go see Mom for a weekend but needing to plan and book a flight in advance instead of being able to hop in the car and be home in an hour.
I guess this comment doesn’t have much of a point except to say that I get it, and this is just me alone – I’m sure my feelings would be even stronger if I had little ones in tow.
One request. Once you do get settled on the East coast, invite your blogging friend who’s roaring through her twenties (or thirties depending on when the move happens!) down for your housewarming party! I promise to bring lots of wine.
I liked you moving closer to me better than moving away again, but that is me being selfish. I completely understand your wanting to be closer to home etc. Don’t forget you have friends here too.