Decisions....

We've been to the town we'll be moving to twice in the last week. The first time we were without kids (only Presley). We saw everything in our price range that was for sale. Even some that were already sold should we decide to build. We did it all in about 7 hours between two days. Obviously, you can tell by what little time it took that pickin's are slim. We have a few issues. One of them being the size of our brood. The other being that we are so in love with the home we live in we want nothing less. The third being that we are moving into our first place as temporary housing for a few years so we can eventually build the home we've picked out in our minds as ideal for us. Which means the home we buy needs to be easy to re-sell. A lot of issues for this quaint little town. After talking to the realtor and a builder, we thought maybe we'd build this interim house. We went back to check out some floor plans. With all the kids. Not ideal. And discouraging. We asked to see a few rentals that we could use while this first home was being built. They were 3 bedroom 2 bath brand new homes to rent--without a basement. Serious downsizing for a few months. But doable. It's a long 3 hours home so we had a lot of time to hash out our choices. We came to a conclusion after 24 hours of pondering and discussing. And hearing a bit of advice from Shawn's fellow practicing physicians. We are going to rent one of the rentals we saw. Only. It's not just for a few months. Probably 1 1/2 years. We will rent until the dust settles, the job shows us in reality what it does on paper, and we discover the best location for our ideal home to be placed. This sounds so simple. Yet. In my mind moving into this small house is like making 500,000 dollars a year and being told your new salary will be 30,000. A huge cut. And it will be really tight. The basement that we have now is such a great stomping ground for my kids. I can't tell you how many times in one day I say "take it downstairs". I am mentally trying to prepare myself for everyone to be in everyone elses way. For most of my things to be in storage. And for my treadmill to be in the garage. I sound so spoiled and selfish. It's only 1 1/2 years. Then I get the house I really want. I guess I just always thought that when we finally finished this long haul of a road we've been on there would be an upgrade to our lifestyle. Not a huge one, but some. Not a downsizing. I'll be fine. We'll be fine. It's just going to take time for me to mentally adjust to what is happening now vs. what I thought would be happening.