Chicago Move

C changes
H home
I instantaneous
C courage
A adventure
G God’s timing
O open doors

One day Mark comes to me and says: “Looks like we’re moving to Chicago.”

Shocking myself, I say, “Oh, okay. Let’s do it!”

How can you be so quick to jump on a moving truck? You ask. Well, it wasn’t as instantaneous as you might think. We actually thought we would be relocating to San Diego this year, but that was not in the cards. Mark liked the idea of a warm climate, pleasant scenery and a place to set up his desktop at Qualcomm’s headquarters. I liked the idea of being close to Laurel, Lars and Luke, along with other long-time friends and family. But as it stands, colder winters, hotter summers and no ocean in sight happens to be our destiny for this next chapter of our lives.

The Lord was working in my heart independently from Mark’s. Only days, or even hours before my husband relayed the news to me, I had come to the conclusion that I did not want to live in San Diego. Why on earth not? You ask. Well, several reasons came to mind—none of which make much sense in a sane world.

In my head, I knew Chicago was going to be best. I liked the idea of Mark being close to his team, working in the same building where his division held offices. Believe it or not, I would have missed the snow too much and the obvious season changes. But let’s be honest, the part I was most looking forward to was the affordable housing market. I knew we could get much more for our money in Illinois than in southern California. I was tired of seeing the same four walls day after day. I craved space, multiple doors, rooms and even a yard of our very own. My desire to walk out my front door and run down the street or take a long walk without fear of being abducted became overwhelming. I started liking the sound of Chicago’s western suburbs more and more.

The decision was actually much more difficult to stomach for Mark. “It’s the Midwest,” he kept saying. To put things in perspective a little…Mark was born and raised only a few miles outside of Boston and has lived in the heart of the city now for five years. The city and he are one. He loves the cuisine choices and the ability to walk to famous places, restaurants, cinemas and theatres. I don’t know if you can imagine the struggle it took to get him to even consider moving to the suburbs of Massachusetts, no less the suburbs in the Midwest. It wasn’t until we began the house hunt that he became convinced.

The homes closest to Chicago were considerably older, smaller, packed in closer to the neighbors, and more expensive. Once we started looking farther west, we found the homes to be the complete antithesis. We made our selections from the realtor’s website and booked our flights to check out our favorites.

“You have to keep an open mind,” I kept telling Mark. He had his sights on one house in particular and believed with all his heart that that would be our home. While Mark spent his days at the office in Chicago, I had the freedom to tour around the neighborhoods with Mitzi, our divinely appointed realtor. She took me everywhere, showing me each town center and driving me around the neighborhoods so I could gain a full perspective of the potential residences. Just by doing this we excluded two or three homes. By the end of my first day of house hunting, I had selected four homes for Mark to look at that evening—including the “one”.

Let’s just say that sometimes photos you see on the internet look much more appealing than the actual space. That’s what happened with the “one”. It turned out that we felt much more at home in a second choice house—which ended up being our new first pick. At the end of day one, we made our decision. The “purple house” as we affectionately call it, was going to be ours. We informed our realtor that we wanted to see the house again the following day and after a second walk-through, would most likely put an offer in on it.

Boy oh boy, did things ever fall quickly into place. Negotiations lasted a full five minutes until both the sellers and buyers were satisfied. I tend to think we got the better deal, as they say, “it is a buyer’s market right now. “ We locked in an amazing mortgage rate and were able to get the home inspected the next day—so one of us could be present to hear the results. I flew home that afternoon completely at peace about our decision.

Mark flew out to close on the house this morning (Friday, March 07, 2008). We make the move the last weekend of March. Praise God. Let the adventure begin.

I will post photos once we get out there. Stay tuned…