Sometimes, you just want to chuck it all and start over, you know?
2020 was a doozy for our family, though we know we have a lot to be grateful for. After seriously taking stock of our life and priorities though - a few things emerged that we agreed on 100%.
We wanted space. Our home in the 'burbs was never supposed to be a long term solution - we knew that going in. Heck - we bought the least bad house out of 30 that we looked at in 2 days, and put in our offer on the way back home to pack. We had a good run with it but were fed up with close neighbors, city light and noise pollution, and a yard that had some major shortcomings.
We wanted to slow down. To have a retreat. Somewhere family could someday gather, with dogs running through the yard, and a patio or porch full of laughter. We work hard and wanted some space to enjoy of our very own, and we wanted to be that escape for friends and family.
We wanted to take control of our food. We've shifted more and more buying where able to bulk goods, locally sourced meats and produce, and have grown more and more of our own in the past few years - even in a suburban lot with not a lot of space. But 2020 rolled around, and we doubled our growing space, and realized that as fun as it was to be "that house with the vegetables growing out front" - it was time for us to have the garden of our dreams because it will let us feed the ones we love.
We wanted everyone to have their own space. This is a biggie - because many of the properties we've looked at didn't really have the infrastructure to allow for fully independent intergenerational living. We weren't looking for a guest room situation for our family member - we wanted dad-in-law to actually have his own space, but be close for when more help becomes necessary.
So we started to look, and ran into road block after road block - until - almost by accident - we found the place. After a whirlwind 8 weeks of showings, inspections, negotiations, and late night zooms to show an eager grandparent in Iowa what the house he was going to live in looked like - we got it done.
And now - we are eager to embark on an adventure like none we've been on before. We'll be making some repairs, raising some animals, and turning a beautiful house into our intergenerational family home. We're excited to get started, and we'd love to share what we learn along the way with you.
Yours,
The Giltners
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