ISOPH

(In Search of Perfect House)

Home shopping is like speed dating. Except you have to propose after the first, possibly second, date. You do get to check them out beforehand, and bring an expert adviser along on your date, but you have to know--bam!--if the chemistry is there.

Of course, it's not really an option to completely renovate your spouse. Houses do have that advantage.

I kid.

The problem with house hunting is the number of options. Where should we live? Stay in humdrum but dependable Roy? Join the snobbery of the east bench? Out beyond farthest Egypt in Syracuse or West Point? Would we be comfortable in 2600 square feet (double what we have now) or should we go for a behemoth at nearly 4000 that is somehow in our price range? One of my current favorites has a nice workshop area in the basement. Should I take up woodworking? Maybe I could them make all the new furniture I want instead of buying it.

Also, should we give up looking at existing and just decide to build? If lightning doesn't strike soon we may just decide on that.

Looking back now, I'm amazed at how nonchalant we've always chosen where we lived now. We chose apartments after looking at a few. We looked only at houses in Roy last time. Back then the stakes seemed a lot smaller, the consequences more temporary.

The last time we moved we didn't have any kids. We didn't think about schools or neighborhoods or traffic or crime stats. We didn't worry about choosing a house that would have the right friends for our kids, a situation that would help us as we try to somehow nurture these beings into adulthood. Also, making friends as an adult is trickier than it used to be--would it be too much to ask to have adult neighbors we like as well? (We do have awesome neighbors now, and I wish we could pack them up and bring them with us.)

Same goes for our ward. Our ward has its struggles, which we have seen and worked around as we've been in leadership positions for the last seven years (either one or both of us for nearly the entire time we've lived here). But we love the people in our ward. There are some people I just ache about leaving. But, we don't feel like the house that we could possibly buy in our ward is the right option for us.

So, a house that is big but not too big, with a lot that is spacious without being a beast to take care of, with a truly perfect kitchen with a pantry, a mudroom, three or more bedrooms, a master suite, and the mystical, undefinable quality that will make that place our home. And room for a piano. Is that too much to ask?