I’ve been a little hesitant to share something going on behind the scenes, because I’m still having a little trouble believing that it’s actually happening. We’re under contract to build a House. There are two reasons I didn’t think this would happen – 1) we will have two mortgages, and 2) I always thought that building a house was something that was out of reach. Buying a previously inhabited house? Sure. But I’ve always viewed building a house as something more exclusive, out of my reach.

Why? A few reasons for that, actually. I didn’t think we could afford it. I have a hard time spending large sums of money. As it is, I can’t think too hard about the selling price of the house, even though, when we did the math, the mortgage payment will be only a little more than our monthly rent. I didn’t expect to spend this much on a house. When we bought our first house, I cringed at that amount, and that was considerably less than the new one.

I grew up poor. Not officially, but we were the definition of the working poor. I didn’t really get it then, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that my parents did a pretty good job of making sure we kids didn’t know it. In retrospect, I can see it. We lived in a mobile home. We had cars that were driven until they died. If we went out for dinner, that was a big treat. It’s a credit to my parents that they never really told me, “No, we can’t afford it.” Granted, I didn’t generally ask for something crazy expensive, but they made sure that I could go on field trips, to the movies, etc.

The mobile home part is important. Or trailer. Or manufactured home, if you feel like dressing it up a little. Whatever you want to call it, it looked a lot like this.

I remember that it was 14′ x 70′. That’s 980 square feet. For four people. Three small bedrooms, two even smaller bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. That’s not much space. And I swore I would never live in one again after I moved out. That’s not me being judgmental. That’s me being terrified in so many severe thunderstorms, in a home that had no real attachment to the ground. We lived in Kentucky, which is not actually in Tornado Alley, but the state averages 21 tornadoes per year. Now that I look at that map, my current state averages even more, but that’ll be something I’ll have to sort out later, lol.

Anyway, I have so many memories of being ushered out to the car to get out of there before a storm hit. We usually went to a relative’s house (like actual house with a foundation) or to the local church’s basement to wait it out. There were a few times we had to ride out the storm. If you’ve never felt your home shake, be glad. I’d do just about anything to avoid living in a mobile home again.

So the idea of being able to buy a house and actually SEE that foundation being poured, and see the progress as the house is built, it’s very meaningful to me. It may not mean much to others, but to me, it’s a feeling of gratitude. And the idea that I can pick the cabinets, countertops, and floors? That I can live in a brand new house, with the expectation that things won’t begin immediately malfunctioning? That’s icing on the cake.

It’s not just a house to me.