Driving home and the Other Half elected to take a drive past some of the more beautiful and well landscaped houses in the next suburb...
He knows I like to check out gardens and the Little Man always enjoys a drive. It's a Sunday treat (yes- it's Sunday afternoon here in Australia). The roads we drove down were quiet backroads - the gardens are beautiful. It's always fun to drive around the suburbs near to where we live - I love this area.
We stumbled across our house driving around here many years ago. We had fallen in love, were committed to being together, but wanted to get a place to call our own. We were driving around a number of other suburbs looking at houses. To be honest - it was a drag. They all looked like boxes.
The other half drove a 4 wheel drive (he still drives a 4-wheel drive) and he wanted to show me how the low range gears work on steep hills. That's passion for you. Not far from where we were looking, there was a suburb with some very steep hills. After taking me up one or two, we were driving away and saw an inspection time on a house for sale - it was running in just a few minutes.
"Might as well check it out..."
The house was an '80s classic - with rabbit warren rooms sticking out in all directions. I loved it!! When the other half looked around, he was drooling too. We had to have it.
This house was no box - it was individual in every way. Situated on the steep side of a hill on the corner, half of the house is at one level and half at a lower level. It is propped up by retaining walls (that were falling down when we bought it - they have all been replaced) and we look over the lower half of the street. There have been lots of fix-ups, but I still consider this house to be our true home. The Little Man is happy here and I have no intentions of going elsewhere.
Still, as we drove around and looked at all of the beautiful houses and beautiful gardens, it was a tempting thought to be on the one level and not have to negotiate stairs in the middle of the night, to have a low maintenance garden and a change in general. Again, that nagging "What if?..." thought goes though the mind and wanders out with the casual conversation. The Other Half agrees, that it is a potential for the future. May be we will also stumble across it as we cruise around in the 4-wheel drive...