Chutes & Ladders

This classic children's board game -- which, admittedly, I was not over-fond of as a child --- serves as a tidy symbol for how the house-buying process has moved in the past two weeks. We climb a few rungs upward and onward, only to slide back down the chute. For example: The closing date was moved up to May 21st, per our Seller's request. But our loan underwriter nixed that idea.

Swoosh we go!

There's a lot of swooshing in home-ownership, come to think of it. There's the small and comical, like my brother-in-law stuffing towels up his chimney to plug a draft, only to have said towels fall into his gas-lit fireplace as it was burning. These are the chutes of our favorite childhood park.

But then there are the chutes equivalent to the three-story drop at the water-park, really meant for one's father, but on which one's father coaxes your 90-pound, 14-year-old self to take a chance. *Shudder* Like my friend Erika's basement flooding the week she moves into her new house. Or my friend Mac discovering that his AC ducts are a maze of silver that does not actually push cold air through the house. Or even my grandparents' house losing part of its roof during Hurricane Hugo.

That's like having the d___'ed chute simply collapse mid-ride.

So what are the ladders of home-ownership? All the small, lovely tangibles and intangibles. Like putting a vase of daffodils you picked in some secret field on the mantel. Finding the perfect shade of deep, rich brown for a wall. Looking out a window and loving the view all the better because it is tempered by old, wavering glass. And all these actions are drawn deep and held steadfast through the knowledge that this is your place.

That would be a nice ending for this post, but since I have mentioned Mac, I want to cite something he said a few weeks ago. We were talking house-shop, and Mac said owning a house is the youngest thing he's ever done. I found this idea incredibly charming, and accurate. Buying a house has made me feel woefully young and green, more so than staying out late or going to shows ever has. I suppose because us renounced hipsters are old hands at the latter, but the former is brand, sparkling new.