Meet The Green Monster

Where to begin with this house.  Jay and I made a decision over 18 months ago that we were doing something wrong.  Life shouldn't be so hard. And Atlanta was the thing that was driving so much of the difficulty.  We asked ourselves...What do we love? What do we want for us? The kids? Jay's mom? What we knew we wanted was a simpler life.  A place that moved at a slower pace.  Where the commutes weren't hours long. Where we could afford a home that was big enough for us to breathe. And a beach:) Pensacola. And to top it  off some of our family lived there:)

So, Jay loves looking on MLS and soon after a few of these discussions this house popped up.  Every night he would sit at the desk and look at it.  It had been on the market for well over a year and the interior photos of the place indicated something that could possibly be a big fat mess.

We were down in P'cola for Labor Day in 2012, and Jay found a realtor. He wanted us to go walk the house.  I was game.  Just because I was curious.  So we showed up on a Saturday, and it being a holiday weekend we had our family/extended family/friends tag along with us.  I think there were 5 adults, 6 children???

As we slowly moved through it, you could hear people saying "Hey! You have to come see this!"  It is a big old house.  3700 Sf.  6 Bedrooms. 5 Full baths. Office. Parlor. Playroom.  So much space you just got lost.  But it was covered in old carpet from head to toe.  But we all could see the potential.

We left and went back to Sally/Jason's house to continue our pool-side fun, and Jay told me he wanted to go look at the house one more time before we left.  I looked at him confused.  Was this an option for us?  He said slim chance but we could try.  So, we went and looked at it one more time before we headed back to Atlanta.  On the drive home, he said we should make an offer on it.

So many leaps and hurdles.  Pain. Agony. Lots of tears on my part:) Defeat at some moments.  I will spare the details  But two months later, we were there in Pensacola closing on it.  After signing the papers, Jay and I drove to Bayview Cemetery.  To see my parents.  Their lives and sadly their deaths are what lead us to Pensacola and our Green Monster.

And now we are here. With big hearts and ready to create a great little life.