Lotsa

Lots of memories at 202 Rochester Towers. Today they were officially sold. Not the memories. But the condo.

The sale itself didn't go off perfectly. Official paperwork didn't arrive via mail in time. We found out that the city had levied yet another assessment on our behalf weeks before the closing. (They beautified the street which supposedly helps us and so we have to pay for it.) But either way, it is sold.

We moved out in 2007 and headed to Eglin AFB. Twin brothers rented the condo for three years. We tried to sell the condo during their departure but did not have luck. Another gentleman moved in for six months. It was during his stay that a past condo-viewer had some non-buyer's remorse and asked our agent if, even though the house wasn't on the market, he could view it again. We said yes. He said yes. Our renter agreed to leave early.

Our friends Ron and Ebby helped manage the condo for us in our absence. What help they provided. We could not have rented and sold without them (or without paying someone else a whole lot of money.)

Our first and only home purchase is no more.

While it brought us much grief (assessments galore! inability to sell! building repairs!) it also brought us incredible joy.

When we bought the condo in 2004, we spent a good portion of money redoing the kitchen. I am so glad we did that. That kitchen became the site of more memories and hang-outs than I could ever begin to list. If you were a good friend of our during 2004-2007, you inevitably spent time sitting around the "great room" of 202 enjoying JB's cooking, Time's Up, or watching the Olympics. That living room was where we ate galore, talked galore, and cried galore. Three of our hardest infertility years were spent in that condo. I recovered from five failed IUI's, three failed clomid attempts, and 3 of our 4 IVF attempts in that condo.

Friends cried of break-ups and homesickness and frustrations and failed tests on our brown couch. We cried as well on that brown couch.

I ate quite a few double Oreo chocolate blizzards when sad news came in that living room. Sometimes on that brown couch.

We tried to stay warm in that living room. Our friend Lesley hung out our window to get air when she was stifled by how warm I kept our condo. John would tell Lesley he felt her pain.

We had our birdies in that condo. Loved those annoying little Love Birds.

The condo was just two blocks from the Medical School so people could stop in anytime. Dave and Lesley lived a few floors up. Kelsey lived a few floors up. Ajit lived a few floors up. It was two blocks from my job at Mayo Clinic. And it was three blocks from my job at RLSF. We could walk everywhere. 100 yards and were in the underground. We walked to restaurants, the library, the post office, the mall ... everywhere. All underground and away from that blasted cold. There was an Indian market JB went to on a weekly basis. There was culture and friendship and fun.

And freezing temperatures of course.

I'm sad to see the condo go in some ways. But it was time. As I mentioned previously, we are looking at land in Washington State. I have asked JB to write a post to explain why we have chosen this as our "forever" home. He says he will, but until then, I'll summarize briefly.

Our family all lives in either South Florida. My extended family is in the Illinois/Indiana area. Neither of these are places we can see ourselves living. They are just too crowded for our liking. So we started looking around for somewhere we would want to live. We thought of Rochester. We love that city. But it was just too cold. We contemplated the Kentucky/TN/NC area. But, to be honest, it was just a little too "southern" for us.

JB has wanted, since I can remember, to buy land and do some growing/farming/raising/being outside. Where else in the country could we get land at an affordable rate in a place that has the climate of the south without being the south.

Washington.

What I didn't realize and many people don't know is that while some areas of Washington are very snowy and cold, the Seattle area and suburbs are not. Yes, there is a lot of rain. That is a given. But it has a climate very similar to that of Kentucky. One where JB can grow for most of the year. It's also isolated but only slightly so. That was important to us. To have a place where we could be by ourselves but allow our children to have friends and socialize easily.

So we choose Washington. More specifically, we are looking at Whidbey Island. It's not perfect. There are trade-offs. It rains a lot. JB can't hunt on the island. And it's far from our family.

But it's the most perfect place for us.

We are working with a realtor. We are thinking the earliest we would buy is next summer. We are excited. We hope that this will be a place we can raise our children and hopefully adopt and care for additional children. We hope this will be a place that JB can find a good job but a job that he works less hours than the norm. This will mean less money than the norm. But that is okay. We hope this will be a place that we can grow as a family.

Good bye 202. Hello new directions.