It's time to turn my humble house back into a home.
After 6 years of trying to make it work out with my ex I decided it was finally time to move on... literally.
I flew out to Winnipeg from BC on a whim after another scrap with the ex and went house hunting. I was actually on my way to the bio lab at school to finish up my last lab of the semester when I found myself driving right past the school and heading for the airport.
After looking at a dozen or so houses I settled back on the original listing that dragged me to the prairies in the first place. It's a century house in a crappy neighbourhood with a large garage, no back alley and a double lot. The house had never had a proper reno but the bones were perfect. A 2 1/2 storey with full basement. 5 bdrms up plus 1 in the basement. New roof, furnace, water tank and updated fuse panel. It had the garage I wanted, the attic floor rooms my daughter wanted, and across the street from school that my lazy ass son wanted. Perfect.
I made my offer and flew back to BC. It didn't take long for the agent to work out all the kinks of the deal so a few weeks later I loaded all my tools up on the back of the Ram and headed east in the middle of winter. Took possession of the house, backed my truck into the garage and just barely squeezed in under the door. I didn't realize how much my truck's suspension settled fully loaded, but by the time I emptied it, the rear end shot up another 5". Now my truck was too tall to make it out the door. Awesome.
That summer I flew back to BC and rented a u-haul to pick up the kids and the rest of our stuff. It was a fun road trip. We took the long way through Jasper national park and spent a couple extra days at west edmonton mall. An enormous mall complete with indoor amusement park, water slides and pirate ship. We made it to our new home safe and sound and quickly got settled in. For the first time in a long time things were peaceful. Then a few months later their Mom shows up at the door with all her stuff. Awesome.
The next 5 years were the same on again off again painful nonsense our relationship has always been. For awhile there, it seemed we had finally turned a corner. We got remarried and had another boy. Or was it had another boy and got remarried :) Either way, by the time the little one was 3 she decided she had had enough. My 2 older kids had graduated high school and had moved back to BC for university. She followed them with the toddler and I was suppose to sell the houses and join them afterwards. We sold off all the furniture and donated everything else. Then I get the phone call from BC saying I should probably just stay here. Awesome.
So here I am. In the house I spent years renovating trying to make the perfect home for the family, fully empty except for some furniture that no one wanted and my mattress on the floor. It's decision time people, and I've decided to turn this house back into a home. It'll be a home for one that was built for many, but I think I'm ok with that now. It may not be perfect, but at least it's not awesome.
