Jarrod and I bought our house in DC five years ago after I declared I was tired of living in purgatory a/k/a Herndon, Virginia. I felt like we were just there...sitting...waiting... for something better, or God-forbid, worse to come along. I really can't imagine any place worse than Herndon, Virginia. Jarrod was working ridiculous hours at the time, so I was in charge of the house search. I looked at a few houses with our then Realtor, now remarkably good friend, Kit. Funny how we are introduced to characters who will play a major role in our lives at random. We intended to get a house, which we did, but we also had the privilege of acquiring such a fantastic friend along the way.
Kit and I walked into this house and I was immediately struck by its potential. It felt like home. I envisioned specific colors on some of the walls and pictured our books stacked randomly on our bookshelves along those walls. Brainy books for Jarrod, music and pop culture books for me. I signed the contract before Jarrod even saw the house. That might be startling to some, but that is how we work. He gave me specific criteria to be met. A place to park his car. Check. Green space in front and in back. Check. (Turns out he regrets this item on his checklist. He loathes yard work. Oops) A finished basement. Check. And I would live there too. Check. Sold.
We moved in on a typical DC sweltering summer day, and were ready to start a new chapter in our lives as homeowners. How adult. We took a few days to settle in and then made a pilgrimage to Home Depot, or home despot as Jarrod likes to call it, to look at every color of paint imaginable. I was drawn to a bold red for one wall in the living room, a soothing ocean blue for our bedroom, an earthy green for the kitchen, and a color somewhere between gray and silver for one wall in the dining room. I grabbed sample chips of each color and was excited to go home and tape my perfect selections on each wall we intended to paint. The operative word here is "intended." Five years later, the paint chips remain taped, and all of the walls are still white. We have joked about leaving the sample chips, framing them, and eventually painting around them. It's art, people.
And now, the couple who hasn't quite gotten around to painting in five years shall attempt to enter the world of home renovation. Start placing your bets now. We will get it done though. It will be a slow, inconvenient, and for me, somewhat terrifying process. But, we will get it done. The reason being this is step one in our master plan.
We have had a major shift of priorities in the past five years. Back then we considered a nice car, a home that was all ours, way too many clothes, pairs of shoes and purses to be important things in our life. And that's what they are. Things, just things. Since then, we have learned what we appreciate most is our time together, shared experiences, and travel. You cannot un-write the past. All you can do is prepare for the future and work with the cards you dealt yourself. So, now we have a house. A house that we have four years to fix up to a point so that other people will find it appealing to live here while we shove off at 35 to wander around perfectly selected parts of the globe for at least six months. Maybe a year. Hell, maybe even three years. Who knows.
All I know is that we are prepared to have holes in our walls and ceiling for long periods of time because we will not go into further debt doing this, so we will work on projects as we have the money to do them. We will consult knowledgeable family and friends who have embarked on this same journey. (consider this your warning people...you know who you are) We will learn how to operate power tools and swing sledge hammers, and have a professional step in for the difficult jobs who thankfully is willing to guide us along the way. And no, he does not charge extra for hand-holding. I did ask him. Phew.
We are committed to making this work. It will be far from easy, but the world is out there waiting and we have lots of colors to see. Wish us luck.... and lend us your power tools.
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