House Move

HB & I have been in a quandary about our future plans for quite some time. We both love our house, the house that was home to all the kids for most of their growing up years. It is big, and bright and beautiful. It backs onto the Whau River. It has featured in my book, “Dear Shelley”. It is very emotionally entwined with Shelley’s life and her death. It is a huge part of both us.

As a building it has been quite demanding.We have done heaps to it ourselves, painted the outside, had the roof recoated, replaced window frames and external boards. I, with some help, well lots of help really, sanded and painted every single weather board of its two stories!! (No mean feat and did both my shoulders in requiring 4 months physio!!) It still needs the bathroom and kitchen redone, the driveway re-concreted, some landscaping and some painting inside. There is also the possibility of putting a minor dwelling on the great expanse of section at the front, or even subdividing or cross leasing.

So it goes on and on, what to do, what to do? Each day different, each day one of us maybe hatching up some plan or scheme. Nothing happens. We keep going round in circles. Stay put, stick another house on the front, rent that out etc etc. Alternatively, sell it, run away to the South Island, (my place of origin) blah, blah, blah. The not knowing what to do, blocking us from doing anything.

Our lives have changed so extraordinarily since Shelley’s murder. Nothing is the same. The whole world and everything in it is different. There is a clear definition between before and after Shelley’s death.

Our home, this house, has been our sanctuary. We have hibernated here for months only venturing out to work or the supermarket. We have been unable to decide any future moves, I guess because emotionally, it has been just too hard. We look in the real estate papers each week and anything nice is much more expensive than what we already have and no where near as appealing!!! Funny that!

Last Saturday, I noticed a house for sale in the paper. It looked rather nice from the picture and the price range was also good being less than the value we expect from our current home. I went for my early morning walk and sussed out the street, only about 10 minutes away. I came back and announced that it was at least worth a look at the open home that afternoon.

We went to the open home at 1pm and signed up for the house by 7pm. We then signed our home up for marketing at the same time.

A week later as I sit writing this, I can’t believe we were both so decisive, so sure that this was the place. But it was and it is and this is how we buy houses. This one was brought in the same manner. I saw it on the way to the airport as I was heading to a training weekend in Wellington. I rang HB and said, go and look at this house and sign it up but make it conditional on my seeing it when I get back. She did and long story short, we have been here for aprox 16 years!!

It has served us well, expanding and contracting to fit our needs. It’s foundations shaken to the core at Shelley’s murder, but it’s heart strong and warm nurturing and protecting my family and welcoming the many friends that came to support us. Welcoming Shelley home and being part of her final farewell. It will always be inextricably linked to these past two years in particular.

Our new house has the same feel about it. We both just knew when we went there that it was for us. It has the same ability with three bedrooms, a study, two bathrooms and amazing landscaping and decking which flows out to a private bush reserve, to expand and contract to meet our needs. It will be a fabulous sanctuary for HB & me by ourselves, it will accommodate FBS, SBS & his SH in a heartbeat should they wish. There is plenty of room for visitors and room to party on down or enjoy a summer’s bbq on the deck over looking the reserve.

Its’ one level means HB & I can hobble around in our dotage…not so far away maybe. We will be able to manage no matter what. There is no longer any need for me to brandish a chain saw, climb trees to trim them, paint the weatherboards or clamber up 30 metres to check out the roof!! Anyone want to buy a twice used electric chainsaw going cheap?

When people asked me what I did on the weekend, I said, we went out on Saturday afternoon and bought a house. It was not until I said that out loud, that the enormity of what we had done sunk in. Here we had been stuck, struggling to see any forward direction, floundering around with all sorts of possible scenarios. Yet, in one half hour we had signed, sealed, delivered a new beginning. What we had thought impossible to do, we had done. Maybe there is a connection to my previous post, at least there is food for thought in it for me.

The best part about it is neither HB nor I have had any second thoughts. We will be sad to leave this home but it is more of a mutual separation than an agonizing parting. She needs new owners with energy to finish off prettying her up, to fill her up with their love, their family. She will enjoy that.

HB & I will shape the bones of our new home to fit us like comfy slippers. We will love her and look after her and she will nurture and harbour us. We will all enjoy that.

We will have a party once we are settled in November.

We will all enjoy that!!

Arohanui

KG