A year at home

One of the interesting things about anniversaries and important dates is how and when you use them to mark time. We have our birthdays and weddings (though for my wife and I, we have 3 wedding dates to choose from, but only one birthday between us), but the move over here is also marked in our calendars (not diaries, over here at least!) as it demarcates the end of one chapter of our lives and the start of the next.

Today also marks another important anniversary - a year in our first American home. In the same way that I can't believe that it also marks 18 months of us being here (we moved in exactly 6 months after we arrived), a year in this house seems to have gone by very quickly. The transition from our family house in the UK to my in-laws was strange, but familiar at the same time. Finding this place and going through the whole purchasing process was the first time that our move here felt permanent, even with jobs and a new car. Buying a house means putting down roots and signalling our intent to stay here, to become part of the community, to have our kids grow up in Strafford's school system and for us to have a family home to return home to each day. 

I remember with clarity the first night here, giving the kids a bath and thinking how weird it would be for that bath time to feel normal and for the whole newness of the house to become familiarity. To a certain extent, it has, but I still feel a rush of excitement sometimes when I catch a glimpse of a new angle of the house or just admire another facet that I hadn't noticed before. For example, being able to host a birthday party with an enormous bouncy castle that didn't seem to take up any space, or having a Christmas tree that was 10 feet plus tall that I could look down on, or simply standing in the back and looking up at the trees, feeling small and protected by them. 

We have made some interesting discoveries. In November, about a month after moving in, we woke one morning to find that it was absolutely freezing in the house. The heating, which had been working fine, was off and we didn't really want to pay someone to come and fix it. We called my father in law, who's first question was "when was the last time someone delivered oil?". Problem solved, but it was a revelation to realize that we weren't connected to any sort of communal heating, water or sewage supply - everything is in our house. The only thing we have "delivered" is electricity, but we're planning on solar panels so that we can be more self-sufficient. In March, I finally gave up my battle with our incredibly slow (but cheap) satellite internet service and paid off our contract. We now have high speed cable, meaning that video calls back to the UK are easy and fun - some times, you can't put a price on things. In June, with guests visiting and having boasted about the quality of our water, we found that it was turning orange and metallic - a sure sign of iron. Cue a discovery about the intense filtration system that we have downstairs that we hadn't paid attention to and needed servicing. I love the idea of having water coming from the ground underneath us, but it sure makes you appreciate what Yorkshire Water does - including having to give the kids fluoride pills as there's none in the water here.

We have done our usual house trick of not really doing anything for the first year. We have 2 pieces of art on the wall and a good stock of second hand and discount furniture to see us through when the kids are young. We bought something that was too big for our house (a canoe) but managed to find a home for it. We have managed to keep half a handle on the garden, but it will need more TLC next year. I guess the big difference is that we have invested in some nice furniture with a plan for more and the sheer amount of space available to us has made us more cautious about filling it with stuff. 

It feels like a long time since my childhood friend Dan and I climbed the tree in the back yard instead of unpacking, and even longer since we first stepped through the door and gaped at the size of the house we were looking at. This house has seen Jake start kindergarten, Sophie get her hearing fixed and learning to walk and talk, a new change of career plan for my wife and a successful first year for me as I start my new adventure in American education. By the time October 8th rolls around next year, Kelsey will be knee deep in her masters course, Jake will be in first grade and Sophie will be at preschool. We may or may not have updated the house further, but it will feel more and more like home home every day. 

Post script

None of this would have been possible without the legacy of Gran, and the irony is that if she was around for me to Skype and share this home with her, we probably wouldn't be here. It's a tough balancing act to manage, but she stipulated that the money should be used to do something that you wouldn't otherwise be able to do. I'd say moving wholesale to America into a house that is 4 times our previous one with enough land that my 144 square feet vegetable garden makes no dent in the acreage fits this bill, and for that I will always be truly grateful to Gran.