Impatience Pays Off

One year ago today, April 18, 2017, I was rushing home from work to get ready for my best friend to come over and watch the beginning of the end of Pretty Little Liars. It was a hell of a day – issue after issue at work, a busy weekend of back-to-back family events to stress over, and to top it off, my DVR was NOT set to record.

I walked in the door and told Andy I was done. I hated being this stressed. I hated the commute. I needed a change.

“Let’s move. You pick the place. I just want out.”

Andy gave me a look. You know the one – the “are you serious because I hope you are” look. We went into the office and pulled up Zillow.

“How about San Diego?”

Within 10 minutes, we realized San Diego was not a possibility. We knew we could go up a bit in our home value, but when the only “homes” under $300K were foreclosures under 750 square feet, we moved onto the next.

“Arizona?”

Knowing it’s a large state, we started with a quick search of the school districts. Good school districts tend to have good housing values, so the search in Chandler and Gilbert began.

Lauren walked in and yelled hello. We told her to come on up and see the house we found in Arizona. To say she was shocked would be an understatement.

We went on with the evening, finally catching the late showing of Pretty Little Liars, and discussing what could be in Arizona.

As the days went on, we reached out to our favorite realtor to see what we’d need to do to sell our house. I’m not sure he believed us, either.

With an upcoming work trip on the books, I decided to extend my trip and fly into Phoenix. I had never been, after all, and if I was going to live here, I should probably see it first hand.

Somewhere between day one and my first trip, we told our parents. It was the hardest thing I’ve done up to this point in my life, and we hadn’t even put pen to paper.

To make a long story short, I loved the area, settled in on Gilbert, and at the suggestion of a coworker, found Eastmark, where we now reside. We started the two-day drive to our new address on July 21, a mere 94 days from that first conversation.

Sometimes the most random days of your life can end up having the most meaning. Sometimes, being impatient can pay off.