So, our Seattle home has been scouted, procured and submitted to the banking and escrow pros to work their paper-pushing magic. While I have yet to see the house for myself (Mr. New Media is a perfectly fit emissary for this task), I imagine that out front, above that realtor sign is one of those "Pending" slats, marking that particular territory as ours. It's an exciting development, one that has set the rest of the wheels in full-throttle motion.
Crafty activities have mostly been suspended. Boxing up scrappy bits and pondering over the practicality of relocating the stockpile of cereal empties has become the new pastime. It's not altogether unenjoyable, although every time I place The Girlie down next to a half-packed box, it ends up becoming a haphazardly strewn-out unboxing. In no time flat. You've never before seen such a display of entropy. But I've got it down to a science, pretty much. And the secret is bankers boxes. Many, many bankers boxes. The perfect size for books, toys and the sentimental curios that accumulate at an alarming rate around here. These boxes have seen a lot of action, having moved me from state to state since I left home for college. They get packed, unpacked, deconstructed and stored away, lent out out to friends for their moves, coming back home after a couple months to await the next relocation.
Anyway, in lieu of any exposition of my latest experimentation with needle and thread, I thought I'd share the letter of introduction we submitted along with the offer we drew up for the house. I like to think it won us our new home, which is in the exact neighborhood we'd been aiming for, close enough to smell the doughnuts from our favorite coffee shop and a few short blocks to my favorite running trail. In actuality, our eventual possession of the house has everything to do with the ass-kicking awesomeness that is our realtor who managed to wrest it (the house, not her awesomeness) away from other out-bidding offers (we're not asking questions), and has probably very little to do with this bit of self-promotional pap. Still, it's the most I've made in the past few weeks, so I share.
Two years ago we left Seattle for Houston which offered a dream job for one of us and an adventure for rest of us. We've added another number to our ranks since then and have been given the opportunity to take that dream job wherever we want, and so now we're looking to return home to Seattle.We're a family of four + kitty, a deeply flawed, but happy and tight little unit.We adults both work in newspapers and media, a tough racket in this market, to be sure. But we're passionate about it and are committed to both evolving with the industry and attempting to guide it back toward viability. One works in developing products and strategies for online publications. The other makes print pretty. On occasion, she also writes. Our hobbies, the ones that don't involve chasing the kids around the yard, sound a lot like our professions. One of us enjoys reading up on new media and hashing ideas out on ginormous whiteboards. The other spends way too much time on her personal website, discussing the minutiae of making things and making them pretty.At least one of us will be spending a good deal of time working from home, which promises to further blur that line between work and play.The kids are adorable and aggravating and hilarious, squealing non-stop and very much excited at the prospect of being able to spend the summer months outdoors. And maybe having fewer summer months to contend with. The elder has spent the last half of his life, the only half he actually remembers, in the world's most inhospitable summer climate. From the months of April through October, spending any time outdoors while the sun is also out is pure suicide. And once the sun finally goes down, you're still left with the crazy humidity. And the mosquitoes. You've never seen a playground so deserted as one in Houston in the summer. The elder just got a real big-boy bike for his fourth birthday, and it will be a nice thing to actually be able to ride it outside.The younger was born during our stay in Houston. We'll try not to hold that against her. She's got a killer smile, six teeth and a birthmark by her right eye that we've been told will start fading any day now. She will absolutely adore Seattle. We've been dreaming of the wading pools and community playgrounds and the general progressiveness in attitudes towards families and children that we found lacking in Houston.Other things we've been missing: a comprehensive recycling program, public transportation that doesn't make us sad, access to Trader Joe's and Uwajimaya, an aquarium that isn't owned by a restaurant chain, running on tree-shaded trails, not fearing for our lives every time we get into the car, arguing amongst ourselves as to the viability of the monorail as a mode of transportation.We've always considered Seattle home. With this house, we hope to make ourselves permanent fixtures.
