Sunday, May 05, 2013

A New Chapter for Roo and Dreams Come True


Sorry I have been such an absent blogger lately.  So much has been happening and really I should have been recording it all here...but I haven't.  So now I get to tell you the long crazy story all in one long post. Get a cup of coffee, relax and enjoy the read. :)



It all started in January when I was just coming off of a year of working so hard and feeling super fried.  I knew something had to be done to help preserve what little of my sanity was still left...but I didn't quite know what that was. Well, that's a lie.  I knew exactly what that was but was afraid to ask for it or even say it out loud.  First I would like to say I absolutely love my job.  I honestly feel it is exactly what I was put on this earth to do and it is the only thing that takes full advantage of all of the talents I have been blessed with.  For the most part it comes easy to me and I really do have fun at work.  But, it does require extremely long hours, LOTS of brain power and I have found it very easy to get completely lost in a problem at work and ignore ME for weeks at a time. Sometimes this is fun, other times it is completely draining.

As you know, I have MS. Stress is the number one trigger for me.  I decided in January as I was headed straight for another relapse that something needed to be done. I didn't wan't to have to burn out and leave my job for health reasons.  So I needed to find a balance. Well, I knew what I wanted...what my heart was yearning for...I just need to find the courage to ask for it. It seemed so wasteful, but the more I checked in and explored what would feed my soul and settle my spirit, this was it.

Thankfully, as part of my regime for treating my MS and keeping it at bay I see an acupuncture regularly   I have for years and am positive that she is the reason my MS is not worse. Of course MS is a very individualized disease and it really is all about finding that magic combination that works for you and your disease. Acupuncture is one of the tools that has worked for me.  It may not work for everyone.

But, I digress.  During one of my sessions after months of going to see her and crying...being exhausted and seeing my energy levels drop lower and lower until my body finally said enough.  She had the courage to ask the question I haven't had the courage to ask. She asked, "what is your heart asking for? What would feed you and make you feel like this was all more manageable?"  I thought for a second and said, A house in the mountains...a get a way. A sanctuary.  A place I could escape to and know that it will always be there for me to recharge, refuel and if I got to a spot I could no longer do my job....We could live there and just be.

Her response put the dream into reality and started a 6 month (and counting) adventure.  She said, so why do you find that? Start looking, try it on...feel what it would be like to OWN that sanctuary for you. If it doesn't feel right you don't have to follow through.  But, explore it for a while and see.  You never know...it might be exactly what you need.

I just looked at her, listening.  But, I was no longer in that room. I was picturing myself in that mountain home  soaking in the sun and far away views. Listening to the birds and just being. Nothing more...nothing else. My heart sang. I was very happy.

I went home and talked to my husband about this crazy idea. To my surprise he didn't laugh, discourage me or even ask why.  He just looked at me and said, okay. Do you want me to call a Realtor?  Do you want to go look at areas this weekend?

And so our journey began..........

I won't bore you with everything that has transpired regarding our search over the last many months.  But, in hindsight I do feel like a higher power (whatever that may look like for you) has been guiding us all along the way. When I think back to the starts and stops and everything that has gone wrong. At the time it looked like this who adventure was a mistake and it wasn't meant to be.  We even gave up several times but in the end we found the absolute perfect home for us.  It has every single thing on my list and things I didn't even know I wanted.  It is in every sense of the word, my dream home.

I can tell you that when we first wanted to make an offer on an "okay" home, we were denied financing. It turned out to be a mistake, but it forced us to really look at everything and reconfirm this is exactly what we wanted.  We then found another home that was better, but when we decided to make an offer it was already under contract. We looked at probably 30 homes over the last 5 months and I seriously stalked all of the home listing sites. I was more educated on the real estate market than our Realtor was. I really think, he was a little scared of me. ;o) It's okay, I'm used to it. When I decide I want something, I dedicate 100% of my time to it.

The day we found *THE* home....

When I look back to the events of this day, I can't help but think this home was meant to be our home. It was a really, really bad day.  I was really starting to feel like we would never find that perfect home for us. I even told my husband that maybe we should just buy land and build our own house. OUR home wasn't out there. See, I had VERY specific things I was looking for and one of the most important was it had to be a certain price point so we could easily pay it off in 10 to 15 years (hopefully less) so we could retire here...or worst case scenario we could escape there and not worry about having to pay a mortgage. In our price range, there was really hardly anything "livable" on the market. Which was fine, we were comfortable with a fixer upper or a foreclosure.  But, even looking at those none felt right.  We had decided to give up.  But, there was a pit in my stomach, it didn't feel right. So I asked my husband if we could go up and look at one more listing that had just showed up. It was a long shot, but you never know.  On the way, we decided to call our Realtor and let him know we were taking a break and were pretty confident that we weren't going to find what we were looking for and would start looking for land to build on.

We looked at the new listing and just like so many before it, it was no private and was on easily accessible. it was clearly not right for us. For some reason (and I've never done this before) I decided to check the listing again from my phone on our way back and saw "THE" home.  I said to my husband, one just showed up.  It looks really cute. Can we just drive by it? It's pretty cute. It's a long shot.  But since we're here.....

He being one of the most patient men I know. Said, "Sure.....since we're here.  What's the address"

We drove by it and we both said, "wow" at the same time. It literally took everything I had not to jump out of the truck and beg the current occupants to let me in to look at it right then. But, I showed some self control and called our Realtor instead. :o)  He was happy to hear from us and I asked if we could schedule a showing of this home.  I remember I told him on the phone, I really think this might be it.

2 days later we had an appointment to see it up close and inside. I was so convinced at we were going to be making an offer right after seeing the inside I even wrote a letter to the homeowners asking that they please accept our offer. I realize this is a bit psycho...but it worked. When we went to look at the house there was someone already there looking at it with us.  Plus, the listing agent said that they had 6 showings that day.  We submitted our offer at 11 AM and by the time they accepted our offer they already had three offers on the home. But, they accepted our and they said it was for the most part because the the below letter I wrote to them:




Dear Current Caretakers of Haus Edelweiss, 

My husband and I have been looking for just the perfect home in the mountains and surrounding areas for over 8 months.  We have visited often and absolutely fell in love with the area.  We plan to retire to this area in about 20 years but would like to get a head start now. Since we plan to own, cherish and live in this home for many years we have been VERY picky.  

Friday afternoon we decided to take a drive to the mountains and just happened to see your listing.  We drove by the house and immediately fell in love. The house is exactly what we were looking for without even knowing.  We LOVED the hand painted flowers and were transported back to our cherished vacation in the Austrian Alps last year.  My husband, myself and his parents were lucky enough to travel the Alps last year for a vacation of a lifetime.  There isn't a month that goes by that we don't reminisce about that trip, it was truly life changing.  So many amazing people, sights and of course architecture.  We never in a million years would have thought we could own a home here in CO that would take us back to that special time, every time we came home. 

I tell you all of this to ask you to please consider our offer and to know that we will promise to cherish and love your home just as much as you have over the years, if we are lucky enough. 

Thank you for your time and consideration. 

The hopeful future caretakers of Haus Edelweiss


So a little bit more about this house.  It was built in 1965 and had been lovingly updated over the years.   The original occupants are from Austria and it has been updated with hand painted shutters, eaves and doors. There is an Austrian blessing engraved above the door and of course there are hand painted flowers, ivy and hearts all over the home.  When the home inspector was looking over the home he came in and looked at us and said, "this is a really nice home.  A LOT of love has really been put into this home"  To be honest the home exudes love. Plus, it has a huge wrap around porch with views a far as you can see. It really is stunning. Tons of tongue and groove wood ceilings, floors and wainscoting.  Every corner of this home is beautiful and lovingly maintained. I feel  like we are no only blessed but so lucky to have found it and hopefully once we close own and occupy it. Below is the view from the porch.





1 comment:

  1. Ahh, this explains all of the recent mountain visits! :O)

    Glad you've found something that works for both of you and that you'll enjoy for many years.

    ReplyDelete