It is very strange to me, the advice I've gotten as we've looked for a house. "You'll know the right one when you see it. Maybe not right away, but it will be pretty soon after walking in the door." And, "God has the right house for you, and you just have to wait for his time." And, "Why are you being so picky? You don't need to have so much." And, "What's the rush? Why do you want to find a house so soon? Take your time and enjoy life"
Now, all of this is good advice, I suppose. But my question is, when did buying a house become so much like finding a spouse? There isn't much practical advice given (although I do have to mention the one about trying to find a house close to a school - sexual offenders aren't allowed to live close to a school - which I thought was pretty good advice). And then I have this whole group of friends who are also looking at houses. We trade tips, talk about the houses we've seen, steer each other away from even bothering with the real losers. When Matt and I go out somewhere, I catch myself checking out houses as we drive by.
With the house we were under agreement about, I found myself irritated with the house and the seller; That it could have so much right about it and still turn out to be the wrong one ticked me off to no end. I had the same feelings about a guy I dated a few times many years ago. The guy was funny and smart and I really liked his friends. The dates we had were very fun, and we had a good time together. But things just kind of foundered after the first few dates, and then he stood me up when we were supposed to see my brother's band play, and after that, it was pretty much over. I remember being most annoyed that I had wasted a month or so thinking that this was going somewhere, and he turned out to be the wrong one.
Most of what I picture when I think about the house I want to own is a place where the door's open and people drop in and feel comfortable and relaxed. But there is a difference between showing hospitality and entertaining: hospitality is dependent upon the people who are opening their home to others, while entertaining is more about things - how fancy is the kitchen, how deep is the pool, is the TV a wide screen big enough to watch a movie or a superbowl game? So it's good this morning to remind myself that a house is a piece of property and not a vocation. It's a building which we will likely sell at some point, not a lifetime commitment. While we hope that the house we wind up with will be a great home where we can welcome family and friends and children of our own, we also know that we can still welcome people into our home and our lives as it is right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment