Three years ago tomorrow (but only because of a leap year), we welcomed Miles into the world in what was, I think I can say for both of us, the most momentous day of our lives. Today, we celebrated one milestone with another; maybe not quite as monumental as the birth of a child, but nevertheless a moment that a couple of years ago we weren’t sure would ever happen.
We are now home owners.
We’ve talked about purchasing a home off and on over the past few years, largely in the hypothetical. As Miles has grown and or jobs have advanced, fanciful talk became gradually more concrete. Jaclyn’s favorite pastime became lurking in the recesses of Zillow. COVID-19 allowed us to save money more successfully than we have in the past. And I, frankly, have increasingly found myself unwilling to keep moving from one rental property to the next every three years. On December 6th we took a look at a few developments building new homes. What happened a few hours later was a textbook example of “well THAT escalated quickly.”
When we arrived for our second appointment of the day, the sales rep was running late. To help appease Miles, who found the discussions of mortgages and closing fees trite and tiresome, the on-duty sales rep grabbed a package of fruit gummies for him. Already, Miles was feeling good about this place.
Miles loved exploring the model units, but what really sold him was the ample playground located on the property. He was dismayed, to put it lightly, to find that we couldn’t visit that day, but we assured him that we’d be back — we’d already picked out a lot and reserved it.
On our way to daycare the next morning, reality was still setting in. “Well,” I said to Miles as we pulled away from the house, “it looks like we’re buying that house we looked at yesterday.”
“Yeah,” Miles said.
“You liked it, right?”
“Yeah,” Miles agreed. “I liked the gummies too.”
That might be the most ridiculous reason anyone has ever had to buy a home, but we all had priorities (and I’m sure Jaclyn rolled her eyes at some of mine too).
We next returned to the construction site with our friend and realtor Kristin in January, as the home was nearing completion. This time, Miles was able to explore our actual house a bit more freely, insisting on climbing the staircase himself and declaring which room would be his (he selected the laundry room).
At bedtime that night, Miles made a very specific request for story time: “Tell me a story about the new house and mommy and daddy and Miles go up there with Ms. Kristen.”
This morning, just two and a half months after our first visit to the site, we closed on the house. It doesn’t quite feel real yet (we won’t be moving in until the end of March), but it is without a doubt the most extravagant birthday present I’ve even purchased for someone. Not a bad way to wrap Miles’s third full year of existence!
The Perils (& Pride) of Paternity 