This post is crossposted to the Two Writing Teachers Tuesday Slice of Life.

My husband, my son and I have been in the market for a house since November. We have seen over 50 houses at this point. In fact, we’ve seen so many that we have a pretty good idea of what we want and what we don’t want. We can now walk into a house and  decide quickly if it’s worth exploring further. In fact, my son has become an expert: he opens the front door, peeks inside and quickly decides if it’s worth the look or not. With some, he has even refused to go past the foyer.

Fortunately, we don’t need to move into a new home until the end of March. We have some wiggle room. But, I’m getting impatient.

We have seen large, medium-sized and smallish houses. We have looked at bungalows (the Calgary equivalent of ranch homes, but smaller) and one-family homes. We have looked at houses with attached garages (most of them) and we have looked at houses with detached garages (not our favorite). We have seen houses with unfinished, partially finished and fully finished basements.

We have gone to open houses, and arranged house viewings with our realtor at all times of the day – after school, in the evenings and on the weekends.

We’ve seen houses close to my work and to my son’s school. We’ve also discussed the practicality of living in a neighborhood farther away.

We’ve explored old neighborhoods and new ones.

I think we’ve seen the gamut. And, guess what? None of the houses we’ve seen measures up to our ideal house. Not surprising, right? Nevertheless, we keep searching for the perfect house…

For the curious among you, here is our list of priorities –

• a view to the Rocky Mountains,
• an office,
• a good sized yard,
• space for our daughters to visit with their growing families,
• a good sized bedroom for my son,
• a finished basement, preferably of the walkout variety,  
• on a quiet street,
• not a run of the mill house.

I know it’s a tall order. No house will live up to our ideal. Nevertheless, we keep looking.

So, as my family continues to debate the merits of this or that house, I will take a deep breath (remember, I’m impatient) and try not to fall in love with each new house I see. Maybe if I let go and be true to myself (speak my truth) about each house we see, we will end up with the house of our dreams. Not perfect, but just right!