The Big News

So first we start with a little background … after a series of frustrations at my husband’s former job we had “the straw that broke the camel’s back” in February 2012 when the company he worked for decided to “garnish wages” to “make ends meet one month.” It was at that point that I recommended once again that my husband might begin looking for another job. So my husband began the arduous process of refreshing his resume and interviewing with companies. One company after another considered my husband but for one reason or another they were just not the right fits.

One day my husband and I were reminiscing about a time, long ago, 18 years ago to be exact when we lived in England. We loved it there. Some other friends of ours had gotten jobs there so we considered that. Then we realized what a difficult time it would be with our animals to try and relocate to England. So we both said, “well maybe New England.”

Some more time passed and more job offers came and went for the same reasons as before. Then in July 2012 my husband received a call from a company in New England, from Boston. The company found my husband to be a perfect fit EXCEPT for the fact that we lived in Texas. Every other week the company would contact my husband to see if he was still available while they continued to search for a person that would fit their bill that was from New England. This went on for MONTHS then finally in October the company had him come in person for yet a 3rd interview. It went over very well. The agreements were made and our family committed to make the trip to move to New England… but FIRST we had to find a home.

My husband and I traveled up in early November with his vehicle for two reasons. One was to take his vehicle and leave it in New England. The second reason was to look for a home. The house search was riveting, we had a very difficult order to fill. We were going to potentially be traveling with several animals which included dogs, cats, and horses. We placed and rehomed several of the animals to help reduce our criteria but we still found ourselves struggling to find a suitable home. We searched and searched, After a week and a half I returned home. Just prior to leaving I had an epiphany, It dawned on me that there HAD to be SOMEONE out there like me SOMEWHERE that was in a similar situation to me. What did THEY do? So I explored that option by finding some local dog show people, breeders, herding dog people, etc.  My search was successful and I found a man that lived in New Hampshire. He was a wealth of information and put us in contact with his sister, a realtor from Massachusetts that happened to live in the geographical location of Massachusetts where we decided would best suit our needs logistically. I set a “tight” criteria:

1. No HOAs
2. Minimum of 3 acres
3. Preferably a barn, but not a deal breaker but the place had to at least be horse friendly.

We started out with 80 properties, my husband and I went through and culled about 30, then we culled 15 more after that, we whittled the list down until we were left with 6 homes. My husband and I found ourselves on different pages on our needs list so we ended up doing a secret list and put the remaining 6 homes in preferential order. Upon showing each other our lists my husband’s list only had 5 homes. There was one home that I was quite interested in that he had taken out. I insisted that he place it back in and reorder his house list. We finally got a topsy-turvy sort of order. A few days later my husband got together with the realtor and went on a house viewing marathon. They traveled far and wide that day viewing all 6 homes across the entire state of Massachusetts. When they returned my husband dutifully called me to give me the report of his findings. He began giving me the story play-by-play much like I usually do to him. He said 1st we went to this house, and then we went to that house, so I said “well which one did you choose??? He kept me in suspense and then he FINALLY told me the house that he had omitted, the one that I told him to put back in his list was the home he chose! He said “you’re going to love it!”

I have learned to not get too excited about things until they are finalized. On one-too-many occasions I had gotten overly excited about things and they ended up turning belly up leaving me dismayed and disappointed. I was excited, but I refrained from outwardly showing my elation. We were told by the realtors of the house we chose that the home would be ready mid-January. So we packed feverishly to prepare for our impending move. Sadly January came and went, then February, when we got to March we began to re-evaluate the prospects of this home because we were unsure that it was going to be a green light anymore. The problem was that the home had tenants living in it. Without getting into the particulars, basically there was misinformation about the tenants lease and there were 3 lawyers involved and 3 realtors. Really THAT was the main problem. The owners were not allowed to speak with us, nor us to them. IF we could have done so, things might have been a lot more simple. I suppose lawyers and such are there to make the process more… simple (sense my sarcasm). Anyhow, after another TWO more months we FINALLY got word that we had to move out of our home in Texas that we had been leasing. We told the owners of the home we were preparing to purchase (we were no longer locked in a contract because of all the delays) that “ready or not, here we come.” We said if they don’t have the home ready for us we would find another place if need be. Instead they invited us to come on up and that when we arrived they would have the key ready for us. They were going to rent the home to us pre-closing.

We began our journey and drove up a four-day road trip. It was harrowing. We were a caravan of a Moving Truck hauling a 3 horse slant trailer with a cabin and I followed behind in our Dodge Ram. The trip was chocked full of potty breaks, hotel stays, coffee, and junk food. There was lots of ominous rain clouds and showers along the way. There were beautiful hills and dales throughout all the states we traveled. We started in Texas on a Saturday afternoon and went through the states in this order: Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and then FINALLY we arrived in Massachusetts on Thursday evening. We had the code for the lock box on the door to get the key. I arrived first after we got separated in New York traffic. I climbed the stairs of the deck and went to the lock box only to find that it was open and EMPTY!!! We were so upset! When my husband arrived he was so frustrated. No one was available right away but we called every number in our phone book. All the lawyers, all the realtors, we were so upset about the whole ordeal. We were exhausted, starving, ready to sleep for days. So the call came that “they had the key” and we had to come sign some paperwork. My husband and I went and had a “sit down” with the people and signed their documents and received the key. What a relief. On the way back we picked up some more “junk food” for dinner, some air mattresses (at one point during our trip we drove through a flood and we had some items “water-proofed” tied in plastic bags and covered in a tarp but we did not anticipate the back of the truck FILLING with rain water. Many of our things were soaked, including bedding and clothing that was in our suitcases.)

So we finally are HERE, up to our necks in boxes still, but we are here! We’ve met a few people here and they are very cordial. We took my Mom, who graciously helped us drive up here from Texas, to sight see on her last day here. We drove to Plymouth and then by the Boston Harbor. She returned home after a very pleasant breakfast at the Cracker Barrel (the only place around here that we KNOW you can order Iced Sweet Tea without getting funny looks, hee hee).

So here we are unpacking, etc. As our time here unfolds I plan to blog about our adventures and share them with you here. So tune in… it’s only just begun. 🙂