Sometimes decisions are made for you...

Since life has been getting 'back to normal' or as normal as it can be with four kids, we've been faced with deciding about our upcoming move back to the Washington DC area. For a while, Kevin and I both held out hope that I would stay here with our children and Kevin would commute back home on weekends. We knew it would be tough, but our life here in Maine is hard to give up for a lot of reasons.

Before Callum was born we couldn't find anywhere to live. It was very discouraging and stressful, so we decided to stop looking until after things settled with our new baby. And it has. We've spoken with realtors, told them what we wanted and almost everyone chuckled and said "good luck" - it made the potential of us staying here in Maine very real.

Then, we found a potential home in Maryland. Then another in Virginia. Both equally enticing, each with their own personalities and downfalls. The home in Great Falls, VA is perfect for us. The only downfall, the size of the back yard. It's tiny. And since we have a large, beautiful yard here in Maine, it seems almost mean to have a yard that size with four children and two dogs. The only thing to make it better, a tot lot across the street. The home in Arnold, MD is in a waterfront community, our children will be able to continue to enjoy the open water and a beach setting, a large yard, but a smaller, more expensive home with a longer commute. It's such a difficult decision for us to decide which home is best for us when we've never even stepped foot in either house, hell....in either town!

Yesterday, we met with a rental property manager. She gave us some figures that didn't quite jive with our mortgage, once again, we were faced with the possibility of us staying here. We had spoke with some friends that let us to believe we could get more for our home than what this lady had told us. I placed our home on Craigslist, and Voila! we had a small influx of interested parties. We showed our home today to a really nice family with two small girls. They loved our home, and before they left, they said this is where they wanted to live - heck! they'd be silly not to, this place rocks, and it saddens us to have to leave.

When they left we knew they had made our decision for us. We would all be moving to the DC area. Together. It makes us sad. We love so many things about Maine. Our family. Our friends. Our life. Our home. Everything about Maine, we love. I want to stay here and raise our children here, but, I know that isn't a possibility right now, it is the best choice for everyone to move, and to throw a lot of money away by staying here just isn't smart - and that is what it comes down to...money.

So now, we are faced with the decision of which house to choose. The Great Falls house that is THE perfect HOME for us or the Arnold house that is THE perfect LOCATION for us that is more money. Once again, more adult decisions to make in the next day or two. Sometimes making adult decisions are just no fun at all!