10) Sign(s) on Church St

You’re up early that morning. Today is the big day.

You had the walkthrough yesterday; and you’ve since solidified the idea that you are simultaneously both out of your fucking mind nuts and so incredibly lucky to have this opportunity.

There have been doubts… sure…

Like the detached faucet in the kitchen (the one that the plumber tells you the former owner wanted them to just stick on the sink to make it look functional even though it was not and they refused). The heating issue, both cost and efficiency (you really don’t want to freeze to death this winter). The hint of the mold smell in the basement. And of course the sheer size and true cost of an undertaking like this one.

“Out of your fucking mind nuts…” you remind yourself.

Immediately though your brain takes you to your conversation with one of the former owners, an artist that first renovated this place over a decade ago… “Yeah I mean there are issues for sure, and it depends on how you want to live… but I will say that living there was also the most magical time of my life…”

And every time that your brain goes to that, “You’re nuts, this was a terrible idea, you fucked this one up big time…” you remind yourself that you’re here for the magic… the most magical time of your life.

You’re going to make it that. You’re aware that there will be a lot of blood sweat and tears involved… but that’s part of the whole reason for doing this right?

You need to prove to yourself that you can do BIG things and you know that you can absolutely soar when you ‘go all in.’ This is your time to shine.

But there’s something else… this nagging, gnawing feeling that this place was always meant to be your destiny. That every choice, every decision, every bump (and win) in the road, brought you right here… and there were signs…

The real estate agent who shared your name (which was a very uncommon name when she was born).

The digging you did to find out everything you could about the church… you were so nervous that this sort of adventure couldn’t be possible without some very deep pockets… and then you found the young artist couple… artists just like yourself… and not only artists, but artists that were within six degrees of separation (you did several internships with people from the same school these artists attended and partnered with)…

They were artists… not millionaires.

Same.

And they were creative problem solvers, good with their hands, and hard-workers with a vision…

Same.

You felt so much more secure with this crazy idea of yours knowing that this couple had done the same many years ago. This was a deep source of peace in the decision.

You’re also not quite sure how to explain it, but you felt this incredible pull… a very real draw to this building. You had very literally looked at EVERY single family, duplex, quadplex, farm, old firehouse, old school house, restaurant / apartment combo on the market in all of New York, Vermont, Maine, and even northwestern Pennsylvania.

Weeks you spent combing over every property: researching towns and cities, obsessing over details like square footage, bathrooms, bedrooms, neighborhoods, staircases and fireplaces…

You and your husband had both agreed on a few non-negotiables: this place had to knock you off your goddamn feet. You wanted something that every single day, after coming home, you could look at that house and think, “wow, I really love this place.” Somewhere you were excited to live in and work on. The other non-negotiables were bathrooms (you needed a minimum of two full baths) and finally a silly but important one nonetheless: stairs.

Your home had to have not only a set of stairs (the kids were dead set on this) but a visually stunning staircase… think that scene in Titantic where you see the incredible first class entry with those gorgeous stairs. You want to be Kate Winslet descending the stairs in a flowy dress… minus that whole sinking ship thing where you could have let your husband on the door but you totally don’t and he freezes to death… Not a good look.

It was a silly thing… the stairs… but you all agreed.

Then you saw her and one of the first things that stood out to you after you got past the awe of the building’s impressive brick and limestone structure, but the dark oak stairs bathed in a soft light that streamed into the room from multiple windows.

“WOW.”

Love at first sight.

You both fell in love with her immediately. There was a pull, a draw, something that you can’t quite put into words and you both felt it. You both told yourselves it was nuts… to buy that church…

…until the pull took over and you went with the flow… and now here you were…

All these signs brought you to today’s signing…

You step out of the car and look up, taking in your surroundings… you’re at the attorney’s office to sign the paperwork and officially buy your home… and you laugh when you spot it… “Hey David?” You call to him and when he looks over you point to the street marker… “Did you see this?”

Church St.

You’ve never been more sure in your life that this was pre-ordained… fated… meant to be… and you don’t even believe in that sort of nonsense.

Church St.

You think that maybe you could start…

…believing in a little bit of cosmic magic.