On Saturday, Eveyln and I decided to check out a townhouse in Richmond – $1000 per month. It had a lovely view of the park, but it was dirty, cramped and quite old. Paint was peeling off, cobwebs and spider eggs everywhere. Yuck. Definitely we would not be living here!
So we checked out an ad that I got from canada.com 4 bedroom duplex in Burnaby. We had nothing better to do, so we decided to check it out right away. It was big… it was clean and it was old but well maintained. We fell in love with it immediately and knew we had to take it. So we did. I got my employment letter, we got the money out and plunked down a depost two days later.
We were planning on moving at the end of December and here we are submitting our deposit for the 15th August. It’s a big risk… but we had to grab the opportunity. The more we thought about it after the fact, the more it made sense. We’d save a lot of money on bus fare, we’d have a shorter commute… I can be more flexible in school schedules too! But best of all, we can live the way we would like to live on our own terms and our own values. And Nico will have almost two years with Evelyn to teach him.
It’s not without risks. Our plan to get out of debt will be extended by a few months. What if our Students leave? What if I get laid off? What if Evelyn’s Maternity leave is not enough ? Will we find child care? Living on our own, we won’t have that parachute or safety net that our parents provided so generously over our first five years of marriage. Lots of unanswered questions but these things can be solved if we actually get around to working on it. Without that safety net, we have to!
I am so grateful for my mom and dad for the past five years. It’s not an easy thing having your grandson running around messing up your home. Most grandparents have the privlege of stuffing their grandkids with candy then sending them home to their children in revenge for those stressful years they spent raising them. My parents had no such opportunity… until now! 🙂
Gosh! Evelyn & you must be really excited about moving to your own place! Hmm… did I miss something about “Evelyn’s maternity leave”? Should I be saying congratulations?
Yes, we’re expecting our second child sometime in February! Lots of changes.. whew! I’m not really too sure if we can handle it but we’ll find out soon enough. I’m sure you guys are excited too… looking for wedding gowns and cumber buns and the like. I can totally picture S in a pale aqua tuxedo with top hat and cane with orange sneakers! 🙂 hee hee!