By Cassidy Dover: "Home"

We have lived in our house for over 8 years.  When we realized we had enough money to put down on a home, we chose a location where Ray could train year round.  We knew we’d be far from family, but also knew, from our life, that planes can take you wherever you need to go!  So, Ray had a road trip to the city we chose coming up.  I planned to go two days earlier and to meet with a friend who was also a realtor.  We had gotten pre approved because, at that time, it was a sellers market.  We wanted to be in a position, when we found our house, to put in an offer with earnest money, and get it!  We wanted no reason to have our offer turned down.

Sitting down to figure out our budget was difficult.  The bank wanted to approve us for much more money than I felt comfortable spending.  I had trouble convincing Ray that we needed to keep our mortgage close to what we paid in the season for our apartment.  I knew once we had a home our bills would double.  We’d have a mortgage on a house that we wouldn’t be living in and we’d also need to pay for our in-season apartment.  Paying too much for our home could, potentially, make things harder for us down the road.

Of course, you want to believe that you will always make more next season than you did this season, but that isn’t always the way it works.  If you budget your life betting on certain things that are out of your control, it’s a recipe for disaster.  I didn’t want that to happen to us!

We agreed on an amount we felt comfortable with.  My friend wanted to know our top 10 wishes and our top 3-5 must haves.  As we made the list, I realized Ray and I had very different ideas of what we wanted in a house.  I truly felt that once we had a “home base” I’d be fine.  I really just wanted a home for us.  I wanted a place to hang our photos and put our clothing and unpack our wedding gifts that had sat in boxes in my parents’ basement for years.  Ray’s money was, honestly, going to pay for most of this home.To be fair, nothing he wanted was something I absolutely didn’t want.  It was just his “must have” wasn’t on my “must have” list.

When my friend and I headed out to search for the house, she had 16 houses to show me.  As we looked, I Iiked parts of each house, but nothing “wowed” me.  Then my friend said, “OK, Cassidy, I know this last house is your house.  I knew it when I saw the listing.  I just didn’t want to show it to you first.”

Off we went.  We drove through this adorable neighborhood.  Each house had a good-sized lot.  Before we even pulled up to the house, the location was perfect.  We pulled up and I felt like I was at home.  I knew Ray would love it.  “We have to go inside!” my friend said. 

Inside the house was better than outside!  I could imagine living there.  I could imagine having a family.  The backyard was even better.  This was our house!  Now I couldn’t make the choice and take that away from Ray.  He had to decide for himself.  So our realtor friend and I picked our top 5 houses (this was before “House Hunters was on TV).  When Ray got into town, we took him to each one.

At the end of the day we had narrowed it down to two homes. The one I had liked and the one I had loved.  Ray wanted to make an offer on each one and see which was accepted.  I explained we couldn’t do that!  We had to decide.  In the end, Ray agreed that he loved the house I had loved.  We put in an offer and, after some negotiations, our offer was accepted!

That off season we shipped our stuff to the new house and began to unpack.  I say began because almost 8 years later, we’re still not quite done.  I think we have three boxes, of all breakables, that are in our storage garage.  We have our wedding dishes in a cupboard but all still wrapped and in boxes. Our closets are scary, too. Ray will come home and half unpack, half not.  Piles of clothes are on the floor of each of our closets and some drawers won’t close in the closet bureau.  Who has time to go through everything when you’re always on the move?!

The joke with our friends is that our photos are framed and leaning on the floor against the wall.  There are three photos hanging on the wall and nothing more.  We love photos, but we just don’t ever get time to both be home and hang them.  Our house still looks like we’re vagabonds and that we’re somewhat squatting on our own property.  Over time I’ve moved from room to room and gotten some new furniture and painted some walls.  Things get done a bit at a time, but those pictures don’t get done.  I hate it!

A few weeks ago Sheridan and I went to visit Ray.  Our neighbors were watching our house.  They do that a lot for us.  They’ll care for our animals, get our mail, do what needs to be done.  Well when I walked in the door from our trip, I was in for quite a surprise!  Each wall had photos hanging up.  Not just thrown up on the wall, but cute arrangements of photos that you could tell someone had put time and care into their placement.  My neighbors had decided to give me a gift.  They finished the walls of our home!

Over the years we had done much to change our house to a home, but something always felt like it was missing.  Now, as I walk from room to room, I smile.  Just seeing our photos on our walls makes things feel better.  I can see where we’ve come from and where we are now.  The walls and the photos show our family and our story.

We are finally home.

Thanks for reading,
Cassidy.