The BIG MOVE - Part 1

As you may recall from my early 2023 posts and FB lives, my husband had some serious medical issues and was in the hospital for nearly 4 weeks within a year (a few days January 2022, two weeks in December 2022, and one week in January 2023). We knew we needed our family, which meant the move closer to the kids and grandchildren in the Midwest… was soon!

After we married in 2013, we had planned to retire in the beautiful (and cold) Midwest somewhere, and since this amazing man helped me start dreaming again, we started shopping on Zillow. I had a love/hate relationship with Zillow as beautiful vintage homes we saved and fell in love with would fall off or be sold before we were ready. We were always saying “in the next few years”, we’ll do it. We had a 1939 cottage with original wood floors, built-ins, and curb appeal galore! How could we settle for less! We both like cold weather better than hot, and had been traveling out to the Midwest every year around Christmas or early spring, so know what we are getting into.

The pandemic changed so much in our world, but the brightest change for us was that both of our employers realized that remote work was an option. It is a little harder for a Project Manager of a home builder to work remotely, but my employer understood the reason for the move and was willing to give it a try. I asked for reduced hours as well so we could put our family first for a change and working Pacific Time zone hours in Central Time zone (2 hours different), I was not going to want to be working until 7:00 PM CT on a Friday night! My husband was already considered remote and lost his old office desk soon after announcing our plans. A HUGE GOD thing!!

We spoke to our Realtor in February and put together a game plan. We had work to do. Luckily we had done all the big important renovations already (HVAC, Laundry room, powder added, new kitchen, updated bathroom, updated tiled floors, etc), so only needed to repaint the interior areas not touched yet and repaint the outside. We started by renting a POD to move things into to prep for the painting. After that, a sweet friend (interior designer) came over and she gave me staging recommendations, so then we packed up for that as well.

With all that, the first thing I had to pause was my Marvelous Mondays and Fri-Yay Kit-Together Facebook Lives in early April. I planned one last local class in May, so you saw a few posts about that and some sales and then radio silence… That has been so hard on me as well!

We listed the house on the MLS April 25. Then a few days later, on the day we had our first showings, we had to put our sweet pup Payton down. My son and I got her from a rescue when she was 7 months old, and sadly found she had back problems. We babied her as much as possible, but at 13, we could tell she was in lots of pain and did not have any quality of life. Our hearts broke, but we have so many fun and silly memories of her to help us smile through the sadness.

Our sweet home had 3 offers the same weekend of our first showings, and the home was pending just days after that! It sold in 5 days, we got a 45-day free lease-back and much more money than we asked for! A GOD thing for sure!! But now the hard work (packing) had to start!

We didn’t want to put an offer in on another house until our house had a close date and all contingencies removed. As it worked out, we had a trip scheduled for late May for grandbabies birthday celebrations and would tie in looking at homes at the same time. We kept looking at houses online, but noticed not much was available and prices kept climbing and nothing as adorable as our current home. Bigger, but no charm!

I had my last Stamp Class in mid-May, then finally packed up my toys… sniff! I was so busy working and packing I didn’t have time to touch anything anyway. I was doing one swap for my upline in June, so had that ready to go and then nothing until just before Backstage!

I’m not sure if it is age (I’m almost 60), or how sedentary I had gotten over the last 3 years or how much we accumulate as we age (or all 3), but this move was horrific on my body. Things were going wrong in places that had never happened before. One thing that kept me going was that I was going to work 8 hours less a week and planned to put that time back into taking care of myself and to be there for my family. I prayed about it, spoke to my Doctor and knew my health priority would just have to wait until after the move.

Packing, packing and more packing!!! We had some lovely friends come over and pack an entire room (with tons of storage) in one evening. There were piles of boxes everywhere… a cat’s dream of course, but we all (including the critters) were stressed. There are so many friends and loved ones that we were leaving behind… This was going to be such a huge change.

Our trip out to Minnesota was coming up, so we spoke to a realtor and had a game plan. Alan had done a lot of research about the health care system and doctors in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and he felt he would have the best doctors near the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul). I also would have a better chance of finding another land developer/home builder if my current work did not last long term. That changed how we looked at our potential homes, and with that the prices were higher.

Our dream was to purchase a charming vintage home with cash from our home sale, so our expenses would be less, and we could retire sooner. Well, prices have really surged in the last 5 years. If we could have found a home in a smaller outlying town, it could have been achievable, however, the small towns do not have all the advanced medical teams my husband needs.

Putting aside one’s dream takes a process. For me, it was grieving of our dreams and all the stages that came with it. What helps is the reason for putting aside the dream. Health, Safety, Family trump any dreams, but it doesn’t mean it won’t hurt. We both were going to have to work longer/harder to pay off the new house before we retire. I had hoped to retire sooner to garden, do something philanthropic and do more of my art/crafting. But God has His plans and I had to put my dreams in His hands.

The house hunt was on! We left for the mid-west on May 18th and our current home was set to close on May 23rd, just in time to make an offer! Houses were flying off the shelf! We would barely find a house we wanted to look at, when our realtor would tell us it had an offer already! Yikes! I know how much the packing was impacting us, so, though we could have found a place to rent and then look at houses in our leisure, we just couldn’t face moving twice. In hindsight, we made the right decision since interest rates keep going up and may never be down to what they were over the last few years.

We celebrated belated birthdays of all three grandchildren, solidifying why we need to get out here soon! Babies grow up so fast and we want to be a part of their lives!

On the last day of our trip, we found a home that had listed that day. It had been well cared for by the original owners and was 30 years old. Most of what they had done to the home was quality work, so it would just need updating. The bones were sound, it had the desired bed-count (we both would be working from home so need separate offices) and the distance to kids and medical on its side. Alan told me he could picture us living in it. I asked him if he was sure, and he was. It was not our dream home… but we know with time and money – it could be closer. The best part of the house is the property backs up to woodland and a public trail and pond. Our deck view would be so peaceful! Our offer was accepted, and we went home to finish packing!

We had until the 8th of July to stay in our current house, but decided to move over the 4th of July weekend to help absorb some of the time we would need off work. We said goodbye to our neighbors and friends with a big BBQ and tried to see and hug folks individually as much as possible. This was juggled while still packing up EVERY LITTLE THING. Since everything had to all go in a big ‘ole semi, everything must be in a box! Even then, when the semi was gone and we were packing up both our vehicles (Alan’s pickup and my SUV), we had to leave things behind… some sentimental and some not. We had a junk hauler coming the day we left to clean up what we couldn’t fit. As it was, both vehicles were full to the brim and popping out (if we weren’t careful)!!

I spent the last few days in our house taking pics and knowing how much I would miss my flowers and garden and the funky charm of an old, well loved home. Lots of good memories were made there… we were sad to see the house empty, but excited for our new adventure.

Early on June 30th , we did a final walk through… then had our critters (one pup and two kitties) to load up last and so had left room for them. My son and I had our two cats (Sammie & Emmie) in my SUV and Alan had the pup (Toby) in his truck. Have you ever traveled 2000+ miles with animals not used to travel?

The BIG MOVE Part 2 coming soon…