A Place to Hang our Hats

We have scoured craigslist for months. We've searched Daily Oklahoman classifieds. We've followed leads of friends. We've found places that we love, offered to pay double rent to secure our spot until we can move. And we still don't have a place to live in Oklahoma City.

The catch(es): 1. We're "out of town." 2. We have kids.

I wish they could know that we're really out of town in Chicago and just trying to get back home. AND having children does not make people bad tenants. (I even understand apprehensions - I've heard horror stories of how children have destroyed rentals...but we have awesome kids.) We run into the same problem each and every time.

We just got an email of our latest fall-through. It was a cute duplex just a block away from Edgemere Park. Did I mention first floor, and a garage? I have never been a mother on the the first floor. Imagine carrying your groceries the length of a football field, through four doors, three of which must be unlocked, plus going up a flight of stairs - with off-spring in tow. Granted the garage was detached, but a designated spot off of the street. I believe this last one tried harder than the rest, but in the end, the result was the same.

I'm about ready to give up our dream neighborhood. There's one more duplex that is also a block away from Edgemere Park. It's supposed to be available August 1. That property owner told us about it last month, but he's horribly slow at replying to email so we're still waiting to hear. That's another thing, they rarely say no right off, so you spend several days, even up to a week remaining hopeful. Why is our old neighborhood so special?

It's perfect.

Biking distance to OCU for Jake (no second car - which we can't afford right now anyway), biking distance to grocery stores and fun things to do. Beautiful old homes that I spend hours dreaming about who has lived in them, the changes they've seen, how they've watched the trees grow. And most of all: the series of parks: Sparrow, Edgemere, Crown Heights, Douglas. I love it there.

So. We have our moving truck reserved. The date of our move is set. We just need a place to drive up to, unload our lives in and get to work living them again in Oklahoma City.

Pray, send good vibes, do ceremonial dances. Do whatever you can think of to help send some lightning inspiration to one of these property owners that Jake and BrieAnn are potentially the most phenomenal tenants they'll ever have.

Off to my motherly duty of feeding Magnolia. She's 26 days old today. Can you believe it?

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