One More Piece Falls Into Place

Without ever placing an ad, we have somehow managed to get our house rented out to an absolutely lovely family. Word of mouth in our neighborhood is quick. (God forbid I ever did anything truly scandalous, it would be all over the 'hood within the hour!) So when I ran into a friend at the park, last Tuesday, and told her about finding the place in England and that we were definitely NOT selling our house here and had decided to rent it out, after all.... Well, she knew someone else who was renting their place, and those people had already rented it but knew of other people who wanted to rent in our neighborhood, and bada-bing-bada-boom! Our house is now spoken for from August 1st through next July! The family's kids are the same age as a bunch of other kids on our street and both parents work at the University, so I think they should be reliable and kind to our home, while loving it almost as much as I do.

I almost made it through the entire visit and tour of the house before I started to cry, too. Better than the last time someone looked at it (when we thought we were going to sell. So I was pretty proud of myself. :)

Because we had all three boys here, it will be so hard to leave! My ties to this house are strong and deep. It does make it easier knowing that another beautiful house awaits us in England, but there will never be another block like the one we've got now. With so many close girlfriends just a few steps away, as well as friends and playdates for the kids at any time! I could make it to every house for playgroup or a coffee, even if the baby was asleep, because my baby monitor would still be within range from their windowsills! If the baby woke up, I'd just sprint home and have him settled in the same time it would've taken if I'd been sitting alone at the computer downstairs. What special environment to be part of when you are dealing with a newborn and the stresses of young motherhood. I have been so blessed with my group of girlfriends and neighbors....

It has been an amazing time here in Madison and it seems impossible that this chapter of my life is closing. My husband and I actually grew up here! As in, we finally became adults that, even though we occasionally chafed at it, embraced our responsibilities, our parenthood and growing older. We won't be those same fun, party people when we move into our next house. We'll be "those thirty-something parents."

How long do you think it will take before they realize that we really are the same party-people (despite the bourgeois, parental trappings)???

Hmmm, I'm guessing it won't actually take that long. ;-)