We did it!!!!
This afternoon my husband and I signed the lease on a new home and a new life, all of which begins this weekend and will thrust us into an entirely different community.
The sweet guy at the property management company handed my husband and I our new house keys and I have to say that as soon as I placed that shiny silver gateway upon my ring, something in me shifted. "I have a home," I thought, and I promptly jumped in my truck and drove down the hill to unlock its front door for the very first time. My husband took our children to spend time with their grandfather giving me a much-needed break and the opportunity to spend a few hours on my own, bonding with our new house.
Even though it was after 4pm on a relatively chilly winter afternoon, as I entered the front door I felt its walls exuding warmth captured from the setting Sun. Four out of its six rooms were brightly illuminated thanks to large windows overlooking the back yard and a new coat of white paint throughout has done wonders to class up the place.
Despite the fact that it is about half as big and much more run down than the place we are leaving, I feel like this new home has such peaceful energy. It feels like a happy place where there has been laughter and love; and even if that isn't true, I believe that our family will definitely bring laughter and love into its walls. I stayed in there for an hour this afternoon, putting away the first load of boxes and toys from the move, and felt both safe and really comfortable.
I'm actually a strong believer that all buildings carry the energy of the people who have lived there before. More than once I have performed a sage smudging on a house that I felt carried bad energy, or left clumps of herbs up in various crannies near the ceiling. We briefly owned a house seven years ago that carried both a resident ghost AND the other 'ghosts' of LSD and crystal meth use when it was briefly used as a meth lab. (The funny thing, is that it never occurred to me until right now that we may have been inhaling a lot of weird stuff that year, chemicals leftover in the carpet, etc. Interesting.)
That house required a LOT of protective herbs!
Weirdly enough, the house we are now leaving in 2011 has had terrible energy since we moved in and I can't figure out why! As far as we know, nobody has ever died here. Our landlords own the house outright and had it built for their own family in the late 1980s. They are all healthy and seem quite happy, I haven't a clue why this place has such a bad vibe. Perhaps it has something to do with all of the Navy stuff happening just a few blocks away - we do have nuclear subs based here, toxic waste stored nearby and lots of artillery shelling that takes place frequently within earshot. I cannot explain it, but something has made this home a true challenge since the very first week when we moved in. Seriously. Within one week of moving here I was hospitalized, my father died and my child was born via c-section 6 weeks early due to a dangerous pregnancy complication.
Over the past 21 months this house has consistently brought our family bad luck; to the point where I not only smudged every single room with sage and chanting... I also promised the house spirit outright that if it would just leave us alone and let us thrive again, we would not be here any longer than five years in total. That was about 9 months ago and I have to say, since making that promise our family has grown stronger, healthier and happier. Now we are leaving and I am very pleased that we are keeping our end of the bargain.
Our current landlords have jacked up the rent for whomever takes over this place... which makes me feel even better about vacating the property. We will now be paying over $700 less per month for the new home, with better local schools and equally fantastic proximity to shops and ocean. My husband's dream of owning a home is edging steadily closer to our reach.
Best of all if the owner of our new home ever decides to sell his property, we as the tenants will be offered first right of refusal. This means that someday we may actually be able to *buy* this incredible 8000+ square foot property! My husband and I are both very excited about that prospect, even though we know that (a) we don't currently have the funds to make that possible; and (b) the opportunity may never arise.
At the very least, we both feel confident that we are putting down roots in the community where (with the exception of our year in Italy) we will raise our children to adulthood. I cannot wait to enroll my eldest son in the local kindergarten... he feels the same way and asks me every single day when he can start at his new school. We've already seen our preschooler flourishing in his new classroom and it has inspired all of us to believe that we will ease into the different routine with grace and happiness.
I locked up the house tonight to go get some dinner and return to my family, feeling truly optimistic about our future and excited for the many transitions ahead. Starving, I decided to splurge at the fancy nearby health food grocery superstore, to enjoy some of their tacos and pick up organic produce at the same time. On the way to the market was a ton of traffic and three times I nearly turned the car around. Finally I arrived, purchased some food and made my way to an open table to eat.
"Hello, do you remember me?"
I looked up to see the exquisite pre-natal yoga teacher I worked with closely throughout my second (best) pregnancy. She is an absolutely beautiful spiritual-type German woman with flowing curly hair, interesting jewelry, bright blue eyes and lots of tattoos upon her skin. (I can guarantee that each of them has a profound meaning; that is simply the way she rolls.)
"Of course I remember you. It has been so long!"
"Did you have your baby? I have thought of you often in the past few years, I remember that your pregnancy was very difficult."
"Yes! She made it and so did I, thankfully. It is so nice to see you. Do you teach yoga in this part of town too?"
We chatted for a few more minutes, catching up on our respective children and lives, and I learned that she teaches two yoga classes for people with back injuries ~ just a few blocks from my new home! What a blessing!!! I could not believe it. This woman was an integral part of my life for nearly three years - I studied yoga with her off and on from 2006 through 2009. I haven't seen her in almost two years and out of nowhere on the day when our family has just signed off on a new life, she suddenly reappears and is offering a class for people with disc herniations just like mine!
If ever there could be a "sign" that we've made the right move, this was surely my sign. Within two hours of signing my lease I found that I already had a kind friend in the neighborhood. Some angel up there is truly looking out for me. (Thank you!)
Time will tell how things ultimately unfold for us at the new place. It may be great, or maybe not. Either way, I'm filled tonight with a sense tremendous relief and real elation to be moving forward into a new life with the people dearest to my heart.
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