Lily and I have known for 6 months that there is a chance we move to Raleigh, for two months that there is a sizable chance that we will move to Raleigh, for a week that we are almost certainly moving to Raleigh and for a few days that we are definitely moving to Raleigh. Now that everything is official and I’m permitted to share with my work collegues, the cat is out of the bag, we are moving!
One of my favorite things about Lily is how fast she moves. I get overwhelmed easily, and upon learning that we were moving, I thought Spring might be a nice time, mostly because I was scared of the headache and wanted to take our time. Lily decided we should move right away, scheduled tickets to fly out (even before everything was official), flew out with me to view homes, orchestrated all the house viewings with an agent, organized a property manager to rent our home, found a photographer (who took photos), called multiple care facilities for her mother, and multiple other things all in one week (all while her Europe trip was only a week away!
I’m writing this entry on December 10. I signed my offer letter on November 30, 10 days ago. Now we are already under contract for a home, and about to list our home for a rental. We are only in this position because of Lily!
But this entry is about our visit to Raleigh. It felt like a date with a mission. Lily and I got to be with each other every day and look at homes together. We saw big homes, small homes, old homes, new homes, homes with a pool, homes near my work etc etc. Lily was so thoughtful about the decision, and we drove routes to homes to see what my commute would be like. We ended up choosing 3604 Lubbuck Street, right in Raleigh, only 10 minutes from the office. We fell in love with the charm of the house. It’s smaller than our current home, however, it has the space we need, is very well built and designed, and is incredibly charming. We fell in love with it, and being close to the office will really help me be successful. We also loved how warm, and friendly the people we met were (especially our realtors), and we also loved hearing all the people with their North Carolina drawl.
One evening as we were driving around, we bumped into a private property that put on a huge display of Christmas lights and allowed people to drive through for a fee. Lily and I drove through and enjoyed it. It was nostalgic because one of the first things we did together when we first started spending more time together was drive through a neighborhood in Itasca looking at Christmas lights together. Here is a video we took:
None of this would have been possible without my dad and Suzanne staying with us to take care of the kids the whole time we were gone, and on short notice. The kids had so much fun with them, and we are profoundly grateful for the way in which they enabled this important weekend for us!