Sophia made a great suggestion as I prepared breakfast. She said we should take Desi to the splash park while it’s still warm enough to enjoy it. I’m pretty sure her time in the pool yesterday planted the idea. I’ve never known anyone who loves the water as much as she does. She takes every opportunity to be submersed in it and even bathes more than she showers. I’ve been enjoying all this family time we’ve had lately, so of course I was down for it. I thought about calling up Dub and Maia to bring Tami but quickly decided against it because I want my girls all to myself even though I thoroughly enjoyed our families hanging out together. We definitely need to do that more, but not today.
Sophia asked about the milk I added to the oatmeal. One thing led to another, and before you know it, we’re laughing and joking about bubble guts. It was the most bizarre and inappropriate conversation, but it reminded me of how we were in the beginning, before I started wearing robes, before I had so many worries, and before I knew exactly how much I adore this woman. Life is different now—in a good way—but I hope, in time, we’ll be able to find our way back to that silly, carefree couple.
Evening came, and that meant the sun would take the warmth with it, so we dried ourselves and bid the splash park goodnight. But the night was very young, if you could even call it night, so we walked around the lake. Desiree isn’t old enough to appreciate the beauty that is Gibbs Gardens, but I wanted to share it with her, anyway. One never knows what these young children pick up and remember.
I had walked this same path many times and thought I knew it well. But that night, I noticed a house I’d never seen before. It’s probably been there this entire time, but I felt like it had just popped up seconds before I saw it. I likely overlooked it because I’d never been interested in a duplex before, but it’s precisely what I’m looking for.
I stopped and stared at the house with my mouth gaped.
“Sophia-“
“I know!”
She felt it too. How perfect would it be to live right across the street from all of our favorite attractions in this city?
“If this house is for sale, buy it,” she said. “I don’t care what it looks like inside.
Ha! She was dead-set against moving at first, and now she’s telling me to buy this house sight unseen. The Watcher works in mysterious ways.
As soon as we got home, I grabbed my laptop and searched for the house. Both of us were too excited to get the address, so I had to do a few searches to find the right house. Oddly enough, Dub’s house kept popping up. I’ll have to ask him if he finally got rid of those pesky tenants. Actually, that reminds me I should put Dad’s house up for rent since Less doesn’t seem interested in doing anything with it. I make a mental note to go there tomorrow and switch it up a little bit.
Back to the search, we finally get the right combinations of search terms and find our house. Yes, we’re claiming it! Both units have three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms. The kitchen and dining areas are pretty large, and there’s a nice space upstairs too, so even though I’d lose the office, it probably won’t be that big of a deal, not that I use it much, anyway. The bedrooms are really tiny, but that’s nothing we haven’t dealt with before. Each house has its own fenced-in yard, but there’s land behind the houses we can use as a common area. One thing I looked forward to in this house was building the treehouse with Dad. I won’t get to do it with him, but maybe Desi can still get her treehouse. The best thing about the house is…it’s for sale! We’re moving to Gibbs Gardens!
