Dylan said he married a sad wife. With the number of times he’d seen me sob in the last 12 months, what he said is pretty true. Nobody in this country has known me long enough to have seen how I can carry sadness in my heart for seven long years before it fizzles off. Fortunately, my husband might be glad to see that he now has a sad but excited wife. Because I am so looking forward to moving to a “new” (technically old) house early next year!

It’s an old home, probably built in the 1970’s (we don’t know for sure), post-war style and with cream brick veneer. When I saw the listing pop up, I knew I wanted to sus the location out as soon as I can and couldn’t wait until that weekend’s open. So I just took the train and a bus after work to see what the area was like.

Maybe because it was such a beautiful spring day that afternoon, or maybe because I wasn’t trying to do five house inspections in one day, I enjoyed my solo trip much more than I thought I would. I immediately fell in love with the street and the park across the road from the house. There were people walking their dogs, a few groups playing frisbee, two people eating at one of the picnic tables on top of the hill — it just felt very alive for a weekday afternoon. I could not inspect the house itself but the general area was already giving that warm, family suburbia vibe (or maybe I just missed going to a busy park and seeing a lot more people enjoying the outdoors).

I was back the next day with Dylan. We were in the same area (few blocks away) for a different house inspection (smaller unit, though renovated beautifully, which we would’ve outgrown quickly) but it was a chance for him to see if it’s a suburb he can see himself living in for a long time.

“So what do you think about this area?”

“It’s okay.” It’s a very Dylan-esque response.

“It can’t just be okay! You have to like it or don’t like it.”

“If you like it, I like it.”

“It can’t just be me who likes it.”

It was the exact same conversation we’d have for nearly all the houses we looked at except for one that Dylan thought had too many trees.

We were originally planning to join an auction that coming Saturday — in a suburb we’ve been looking at for the past nine or so weeks. The house open was on the same time as the auction so we needed to decide: go or not go?

We decided to skip the auction and attend the open inspection instead.

It wasn’t a surprise that the area around the house we ended up buying was livelier on the weekend of the first open than the Wednesday afternoon I first walked by it. Up the road from the house was a strip of shops with a Japanese cafe. On that Saturday it was a bit crowded with a queue for the savoury croissants and coffee. Tables were filled with family or friends catching up over drinks, bread, or dessert. A group of young teens wearing uniform (maybe a local team) left around the same time we arrived, making their table available for a couple buying cake slices for their two toddlers.

We bought some croissants and an onigiri to eat in the car just before the inspection and while waiting for our orders, I imagined bringing our mums here during their next visit. I could imagine they will like this area, too.

The suburbs we’ve been looking at since September didn’t seem to have the same vibrancy as the nearby parks or this local cafe, a “busy but warm” vibe that I was starting to enjoy. Maybe the beautiful weather contributed to this illusion of a lifestyle I was imagining. Whatever it was, Dylan saw the same thing and we made an offer a week later. It was supposed to go on auction this weekend.

I am excited and a little relieved that things seemed to have worked out — but also a bit anxious about all the unknowns that come with a house we’ve never lived in before. We’re moving again even before I’ve fully furnished all the rooms in our current house. By the time we move out, we would’ve only lived in our home for two and a half years — which is very short but not uncommon. It’s only really started coming together in the last twelve months but I guess sometimes life moves and changes rapidly just like that.

That — or Dylan and I are natural enablers of impromptu decisions.

What’s done is done. There’s no point in overthinking anything right now. The paperwork is all done! Loans and everything! I should be celebrating more! Generally I’m very happy about the whole thing apart from that dash of anxiety. But still, we actually can just enjoy our trip to Japan before preparing for the move. All this excitement will now bubble away into rushing all the work that I need to get done before we leave for the holiday. I’m counting down the days!