After Cate’s phone call I had a lot to think about. Should I sign the lease, without even seeing the house? I had to make a decision that day as there were other people wanting to rent the house as well. We had viewed enough houses together that I felt sure the other two, Barbara Lehmann and Cate Whitsitt, knew my likes and dislikes, and they both raved about this house, so I decided to go for it and told them to send the lease to me so that I could sign it electronically.
We agreed to rent the house from the middle of May, and I was away from Ottawa until the beginning of April. I had done nothing about moving as I wasn’t sure when we would find a house and the hardest thing for me was telling my landlord, at the end of March, that I was moving. We had developed such a good relationship I doubted I would ever be able to repeat it. But sharing a house with friends would make up for that, and he received my news very well, even offering to drive the free moving van we had!
I finally got to view the house at the beginning of May. We were all excited as our realtor unlocked the door and we stepped inside. The house looked fairly small on the outside, but was huge inside, and my friends were right. It was beautiful! Very modern and bright, it had been a model home until the year before, and was only six years old. It was energy efficient, with many upgrades, was in an established area and had a small garden at the back. There was nothing in the garden but grass and dandelions, but we all liked gardening, so had visions of what it would become.
Now we had a major decision to make. Who would get the master bedroom, walk-in closet and ensuite bathroom? We had decided beforehand that whoever got it would pay the same as the other two. We wanted to keep everything simple, so the decision was made on a toss of a coin. Cate won, and Barb and I got the two smaller bedrooms. We were all happy with what we got though. My new bedroom was almost exactly the same as my old one, so I felt immediately at home.
Barb’s lease did not end until the end of June, but Cate and I decided we would move at the end of May. Having access to the house two weeks before moving made everything very easy, as we were able to move all the small stuff and hang up clothes beforehand.
Moving day arrived and we waited anxiously for our moving van and the two movers to arrive. It took them only a couple of hours to pack my household up, and we unloaded my furniture first. We then went to Cate’s house and did the same. By 3 p.m. everything was sitting in our new house. We made up our beds and then we sat down in our new living room and had a celebratory toast. Our journey together had begun!
