Home Sweet Home

We have been very busy lately, learning the joys of homeownership.
A week after we closed on the house, OKC was hit by the hail-storm-of-the-century (watch this video!). Our roof, along with every other roof in the neighborhood, was totaled. So first order of business as new homeowners: a new roof!

Second order of business: a new AC. Despite the hailstorm-of-the-century in May, June and July have been the hottest on record here. And just our luck, on the very day that the in-laws came all the way from India to stay with us, our AC goes out! (Fortunately, it is currently about 130 degrees there, so our measly 100 seemed like a cold front to them.) Fortunately, the AC guys were able to get out the next day.

Other fun projects: painting the dining room and kitchen; hanging a chair rail; changing the air filters; disassembling and scrubbing the oven and fridge; installing deadbolts (Dad came down to provide adult supervision, don’t worry); painting accurate house numbers on the curb (for some reason, the numbers on the curb previously were wholly unrelated to our address); hanging house numbers on the house; putting together furniture; building and hanging a porch swing; cleaning the light fixtures; etc. It really has been fun to do little things here and there to make the house our own.

We have also been introduced to the joys of yard work. Ankur got to purchase a mower and an edger, which made him oddly happy, and he has been taking good care of the lawn. He claims that he looks forward to mowing the lawn all week. I got to purchase gardening tools, which made me oddly happy too. My mom came out to teach me the ways of gardening, and we planted blueberry bushes (a great housewarming gift from Savta), pulled massive weeds, and laid down mulch. So far, though, Ankur is definitely winning in the yard-work race: while he is still enthusiastic about mowing, I’ve had a very hard time dragging myself out in the hundred degree heat to maintain the garden. I figure that, if the weeds grow tall enough, people will just assume they’re supposed to be there.

In addition to enjoying the house part of home, we have also been very much enjoying being near friends and family. We have seen my parents quite often; both of my brothers have come up to visit; Ankur’s parents have come to visit; and we’ve also been able to reconnect with my old high school gang. Zac and Julie, Kris and Kate, and Jay and Ellen are all in the surrounding area, so it’s been great getting to hang out with them again. I’ve also had lunch with my old high school debate partner, my middle-school “boyfriend,” and my childhood neighbor. Finally, we’ve been able to take a couple of quick trips (to South Bend for the Judge’s 25th reunion and Estes Park for the R family vacation), and to return home to someplace that feels like home. It’s been really neat feeling like we’re part of a community again.

Additionally, we have met a few of our neighbors during our evening walks around the park. One particularly nice couple, Eric and Shauna, made the mistake of telling us that they lived in the only house in the neighborhood with four big trees in the front yard. I say mistake because one night, when we went for an evening walk, we locked ourselves out of our house (another long story involving unfortunate mis-copies of keys). Neither of us had a cell phone with us, and no one else was out walking around at 10:30 pm, so we ended up wandering around the neighborhood looking for a house with four trees in the front yard. We finally found it, held our breath, and rang the doorbell. Eric and Shauna kindly answered the door, even though they were already in their pajamas and headed to bed, and let us use their phone to call a locksmith. They will forever be our favorite neighbors.

Finally, we’ve both finally gotten our work situations sorted out. (And you DC people doubted us!) Ankur is working at an immunobiology and cancer lab, and I am working at a law firm downtown. Ankur has started already and loves it; I start in two weeks. So—I’d say we’re all set!

Back to the Future

 

You probably noticed that I haven’t written in a while. Sometimes, when you can’t say anything nice, it’s best not to say anything at all. And I had pretty much nothing nice to say about DC or my job for a good long while.

In fact, we finally got so sick of DC and all that went along with it that we decided just to leave. We had nothing lined up and no plan, but we didn’t care—it had to be better than here. When we told people in DC that we were moving to Oklahoma, without fail they asked “Really? What are you going to DO there?” The answer: “No idea.” They just shook their heads and looked incredulous. Almost nobody could fathom why we would even consider leaving DC and heading out to “flyover country”—but of course, that very sentiment was a good part of the reason we were leaving.
The day I put in my two-week’s notice was maybe the best since our wedding day. It didn’t take long to say our goodbyes: Lincoln, who promises to visit; Team Happiness, my co-miserates at the firm; Jeff and Jay, my mentors who paved the way out the door; Anthony, my Street Sense vendor; Salu, the hotdog guy; the Mexican, Italian, and Indian restaurants down the street; and the Lees, the 60-something retiree couple who lived downstairs. And with that, we were off.
We stopped in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on our “way,” to see some friends and detoxify from city life. It worked like a charm: there’s nothing like going from the noise, pollution, and sheer intensity of DC straight into Amish Country. As we approached the lovely Verdant View B&B (otherwise known as the farm and childhood home of our friend Elisa), we passed several horse-and-buggy get-ups and numerous working farms without electricity. Elisa and her parents were fantastic hosts, giving us a tour of their farm (we met, inter alia, Manuel the Donkey, Mo the Goat, and the Goose That Attacked Ankur), taking us to meet their friends and neighbors (with stops at a pretzel stand, fresh strawberry stand, goat cheese stand, and homemade ice-cream stand along the way), and serving us two of the most incredible meals we’ve ever had (hamburgers, salad, and cheese straight from the farm for dinner, and eggs, sausage, and PIE straight from the farm for breakfast). The perfect way to start our trip home.
Next stop was in St. Louis, MO, to see Godson Jack--as well as his mom, dad, and brand new little brother. It was wonderful to see them and spend time with such a sweet and happy little family. They are quite an inspiration to us (not to mention fun to hang out with), so we are pretty excited to be just a few hours’ drive away now!

Finally, we landed for good in Oklahoma City. My parents were pretty psyched to see us, but I think they were even more psyched to show off their new baby—our new house! Yep, we bought a house long-distance, on the sole recommendation of my parents (and a few thousand emailed pictures). And let me tell you, they did an excellent job. It’s a character-filled historic house, in an adorable historic neighborhood, right across the street from a beautiful park, within walking distance of several restaurants and art galleries, and about a 7-minute drive to each of our workplaces. We love it! We also love being able to spend time with family and friends.

It feels great to have roots again.