Like many love stories, ours started long before we ever met. In the summer of 2011, I decided that I was ready to buy my own house. Along with my patient father and exceeding patient Realtor Tim Johnson. I looked at about 40 houses between June and July. Finally in August, I put in an offer for a brick home in Springfield Rd. My offer wasn't accepted. A few weeks later, I offered a little bit more, and again, my offer was denied. I was definitely disappointed but got busy with work and gave up on the house search for a while.
At the end of September, I decided to move somewhere else that was less money so I could save more for a house. I put in the noticed at my apartment, spent a few hectic weeks packing, cleaning, and moving (and I am somewhat of a hoarder, so it was a big job). After the last of many boxes was moved on the evening of Sunday October 30, I sat down in a jungle of my own junk and looked at houses online again. That's when I saw it. It was run-down, but it looked like a good-sized house, especially for my price range, so I decided to email my Realtor to see if he could set up and appointment for my dad and me to look at it. After all the houses we had looked at before, Tim was probably not excited to see my name in his inbox, but being the patient and wonderful person he is, he answered immediately and set up the appointment to look at the house on the following day, Halloween.
It was a chilly October afternoon when Tim took my dad and me through the house. I immediately fell in love with it, even though it was filthy, was missing most of the light fixtures had no hot water heater, had a terribly unkept yard, and was in all-around pretty awful shape. I thought about it overnight, put in an offer for the house on Tuesday, counter-offered back and forth with the bank and accepted a deal on Wednesday, Nov 2. It was better than the house I originally wanted on Springfield Road, but I had no idea just how much it would change the entire course of my life.
On December 2, I signed my life away and took possession of (my new home.) Within minutes of the time I signed the papers, my dad and I started trying to make the house habitable. Throughout the winter and into the spring my family and friends (especially my dad) worked. And we worked and worked and worked. Late into the nights, early into the mornings, we transformed a verified disaster area into a livable house.
Then, one cold cloudy evening in April of 2012, nearly six months after I closed on the house, my dad and I were outside trying to rebuild the retaining wall in the yard. All of a sudden a guy with a straw hat, a red beard, and a tan work uniform came sauntering into the backyard and said, "Howdy, folks" Do you need a hand?" My dad graciously accepted, while I was too nervous to utter much of anything to this good-looking stranger. Though I didn't actually have the nerve to say a whole lot to my next door neighbor, I thought about him in the weeks that passed and wouldn't cross paths with him again until several weeks latter. Of course, my dad crossed paths with him before that when he cut Corey's gas line while putting in my new mailbox.
Friday, May 25 was field day at work, which is basically a giant junior high wide water fight with the teachers and the kids. I came home soaked to the bone, and there was my good-looking next door neighbor. For the first time, we had a conversation with just the two of us standing on the driveway. He subtly mentioned that he was single, and I did the same, and he said he was going out of town for the weekend. There was something in the way that he talked that mede me thing that he was interested in me. My suspicion was confirmed on Memorial Day, when his dad John came over and introduced himself and said his son had told him to "stop in and check on the cute girl next door." Corey was still out of town when John proudly took me on a tour of his house... and then made me swear not to tell anyone about it (and Corey never would have known if my friend EJ hadn't let the cat out of the bag.). The tour was interesting, to say the least, and I immediately knew I liked this John guy!
Later that afternoon, Corey came home, and he and I talked on the driveway again, and I started to think he was something special. In the days that followed, I noticed that he was outside a whole lot more. Working in his yard, playing basketball, which I normally wouldn't have noticed, but I was outside cleaning my car and sitting on the driveway talking until late into night. Every time we talked, I thought more and more about him, and I couldn't stop thinking about him. It wasn't long until I invited him into the house, and after that, he just never left. Our lives have changed a lot since we met. Corey has become a part of my family, and I have become part of his. He has made my house a home. We have created our own little family with Gracie (the best dog I've ever had) and Buddy (the most recent dog I've ever had). We have enjoyed our time with just the two of us but also the time spent with so many incredible people who are in our lives. Even though everything hasn't been easy, I know that I am truly blessed.
Every time I drive by the house I almost bought on Springfield Road, I can't help but thing about how different my life would have been If I had actually gotten it. I was definitely disappointed at the time, but then I look at where I ended up, and I know I did ok. I have always thought that things happen for a reason; meeting Corey made me know that they do. Sometimes we don't understand the things that happen in our lives, but later we look back and realize how the pieces came together. Nobody knows exactly what will happen in the future, but I know that in just two short years, we have created some really great memories together, and I can't wait to see what the days ahead will bring.