Yes, I stole that line from Carrie Bradshaw. I still quote SATC at least once a week. That particular gem is from the beginning of the movie (the first one; I don’t even want to talk about that abysmal sequel). Carrie and Big are walking through the dreamiest of New York penthouse apartments when she utters this sentence, in her perfectly endearing and sarcastic way.
When Spencer and I first met, we decided that we loved living in apartments. Spencer’s uncle had a sweet pad in an Orlando high-rise that we fell in love with. 24-hour concierge, walking distance to cultural venues and restaurants, security, thick walls, amazing views, and valet parking. Then we moved to Atlanta and we had all of those things, which was glorious. What turned us off a little bit was those shared walls. No matter how amazing the place, if you are consistently listening to your neighbor’s surround sound, all of the dogs barking, and the occasional domestic spat...it gets a little old, especially for people like us. (During this time I coined the term ‘aggressively quiet’ to describe the two of us.) Also, The Doc is a pianist, and it is hard to practice quietly. One day we were driving down one of Brookhaven’s many beautiful streets, and we started noticing these big, beautiful homes. We wondered:
After residency, could we afford to actually do this? I wonder what houses cost? What is this show called House Hunters that everyone is talking about?
So the dreaming began. At first, it really was just daydreams. It was a way to kill off the long days of medical residency. When you go through that type of hellish training, you need dreams to get you through the long days. We even joked about going on HH. (We decided it would be the world’s most boring tv; we get along way too well and we are on the same page, aesthetically speaking.) As the end of residency neared and the neighbors got progressively louder, the dreaming turned into actual hunting.
I had many conversations with my Dad and Step Mom; those two have bought and sold more houses than I can count. Spencer signed a 2-year contract, we contacted a real estate agent and fully embraced the challenge of finding our new home.
Spencer's schedule allowed him only a handful of days off during the 6 months before we were to move. Thanks to Zillow and some amazing scheduling on the part of our realtor, we saw what we needed to see. One memorable Saturday found us looking at 14 HOUSES! It was all worth it in the end, as we found our new home that fateful day.
If you have been through this process, you know that there are mountains of paperwork. Luckily for me, I am married to the most organized person in the history of the free world, and locating and sending paperwork was easy peasy lemon squeezy. (Easy for me, as I didn't do much.)
We had a memorable closing. Spencer (and I, as a tagalong) attended a board review course in San Antonio. We flew back to Atlanta, drove to Valdosta the same night, and closed in the morning.
Is this our forever home? Probably not. We have big dreams about owning small places in different cities as time goes on. But maybe this home, on this golf course, will be an excellent home base for awhile.
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