Changes

Over the past few months, we have been tackling a huge mountain ... on Friday May 4th we were asked to leave our apartment we have lived in for the past 5 years. It was unexpected to say the least and can explain why I have been so behind on my posts. Our lives were tipped upside down and our stress levels hit an all time high as our search for a new apartment was one that felt like a lost cause.

In case you were wondering, the rental market in and around Boston is fully saturated thanks to the collapse of the housing market ... which means rentals are a at a premium, cost far more then they are worth and are extremely hard to come by, especially in the area that we were currently living. Well add in that we have a child under six (oh yes in the good state of Massachusetts, many many many old houses that are apartments are not deleaded), a dog and a small budget and lets just say "laughable" is what many people and rental agents would say when we asked what our chances were to finding a new apartment. Over the past 2 months all of our free time was spent skewering craigslist, e-mailing potential rentals, visiting countless number of apartments which many in my mind were unlivable, putting off any vacation plans we might have wanted to indulge in and basically disconnecting ourselves from the rest of the world until we found a new place to live. I will spare you with the rest of the ugly, gory, depressing details and say by some miracle we stumbled across an apartment actually owned by a women we have known through the dog park since about 2008 that was just a few blocks away from our apartment was deleaded and dog friendly. Eric and I almost immediately jumped at it and asked her where we could sign to call this new place our own.

The only catch was that we found this place on July 2nd and it was a July 15th move-in. I had two weeks to pack up our apartment with a curious toddler and to make matters more complicated, I was scheduled to work Friday, the 13th and we had a very special wedding to attend on the 14th in CT ... holy hell I think my stress level jumped to close to a heart attack. The only thing that saved us and made this move a success was our family and we are so lucky to have them.

We had a rock star moving team lead by the king of all things handy - my uncle Ted who was in one word simply amazing. He was the mastermind behind having everything packed and moved safely from one apartment to the next and it was awe-inspiring to watch. By his side was his leading lady, my Auntie Laurie who never once showed us that she was in pain with a hurt ankle - she was the driving force to getting everything done and organized ... wow she is really something special. Then you had my mom who bounced between moving countless numbers of boxes and furniture to keeping Owen entertained which is no easy task that only a mother - queen of multitasking could handle and my Dad who just recently had back surgery yet didn't skip a beat and helped with everything. Ricky and Eric did the heavy lifting and boy did they work hard ... I think we stretched them to their limits. And of course, I can't forget my dear friend Lianne who drove up to help on her day off and really helped get everything done. I will be indebted to them all and hope that someday I can repay them for all of their selfless help. It is hard to put into words how grateful I am to each one of them and for once in my life their generosity has left me speechless.

It has been quite a journey, a very straining one and one that for the most part I wish I could forget, but we are now settled into our new home and are ready to move on and create new memories. Thank you all for your support, kind and encouraging words, and your patients as we figured this little speed bump mountain out. You all mean so much to us.

The only picture captured on moving day ... he truly was the rock star of the day!