Thursday, April 17, 2008

One Week To Go

By this time, next week, we'll be the official owners of a brand spanking new townhouse. Hot holy crap.

Basically, we will finally own the house we decided to buy, on a whim, right after I found out I passed the Bar in October.

We've watched the lot go from bare dirt, to concrete slab, to bare studs, to finished house. We took pictures along the way, and I hope that when we decide it is time to move, the next owners will appreciate the photo album we'll hand to them.

I'm absurdly proud that we've been able to do this all by ourselves - no financial assistance from our parents. Of course, my parents have very generously given us a washer and dryer as our housewarming present, and TheMan's parents gave us some money to buy some furniture with, but the house is OURS.

We've come a long, long way from when we first moved in to this apartment together. When I arrived in Virginia, all my worldly possessions fit in the back of a pickup truck and inside a 1986 Mazda RX-7. Now, all our pretty, pretty things are going to require multiple trips with a moving van.

When we first moved in to our apartment, I was just starting law school, and I was lost. TheMan had no job for months, then unpaid internships, and he was lost. Thank goodness we had loving, supportive families who were able to give us a financial and emotional boost when we needed it most.

Eventually, we both found our footing, surer with each step forward. We adopted the cats and made ourselves a little family. I figured out that law school was designed to make you miserable, and TheMan found a job, then another, and finally, a great job. In this apartment, I graduated law school, studied my brains out for and passed the Bar, and found a satisfying job.

As I'm packing up this place we've called home for the last four years, I can't help but feel a little sad to say goodbye to a place we have most certainly outgrown. We went from being engaged to married in this place, and it's fair to say this apartment will ever have a special place in my memory.

And now, we're buying a house, all by ourselves, to fill with new memories and, with luck, more family.