Get married, go on a honeymoon, buy a house, have kids.
That’s the stereotypical way. No one has ever accused me of being normal. Or boring.
Alice and I had our kids decades ago. We were in the process of buying a house together. Our honeymoon in Tahiti in 2025 was now planned and reserved. We’re engaged and planning to get married “real soon now.” Kids – House – Honeymoon – Marriage. Exactly backward!
Chill
We planned a very relaxing year to merge our lives. We would look for a house during the spring and summer. Once we found an ideal house, I would terminate my lease on the house in Greenland, and Alice would sell her home in Stratham.
We investigated every property in our price range in southeast New Hampshire, plus some properties in southern Maine and northeast Massachusetts. We attended many open house events and arranged private showings at more than a dozen properties.
My son and his wife were also looking to buy a house. She found a property with two houses on a large lot in Maine. Alice referred to it as “The Wadland Compound”. The four of us, plus his realtor, went to see it. We planned to go out to dinner afterward to discuss it. Alice said it was too rural for her. My daughter-in-law said it was too urban for her. My son and I looked at each other and concluded that no single property would work for all of us. Shortly afterward, my son and daughter-in-law bought a lovely ranch home in Cornish, Maine.
Meanwhile, Alice and I submitted purchase offers to several places but lost out to other bidders. With the Fall approaching, we decided to pause our house search until after our return from our round-the-world trip.
Crisis
In December, one of Alice’s friends was selling her house and moving to Florida. Alice remembered that the property met nearly all of our goals.
We submitted a bid that was soon accepted. The Seller wanted a quick closing, and our trip was fast approaching.
We now had to scramble! I immediately canceled my lease and started packing. I moved to our new home in January. My son and his wife were invaluable in helping me move.
Alice arranged for the movers to bring as much as possible to our new home, leaving the furniture as staging. She put her home up for sale and continued packing. She made an appointment with the movers to bring her furniture and the rest of her “stuff” to our new home a few days before our departure for our trip.
Alice’s daughter made several trips down to help. She packed items, brought things home, and organized stuff. Alice could not have managed without her daughter’s help.
My son and his wife drove to our new house to bring Pooka home with them in preparation for our trip. The next morning, I got a call from my son. Pooka had just greeted him — far from his Pooka’s home. For several days, we received daily news and photos. Pooka managed to jump over every fence that they built. My daughter-in-law once wrote, “Pooka: 3; Humans: 0”. Finally, they managed to create a Pooka-proof wall.
Chaos
Our new house looked enormous when it was empty. Now, it was full of my furniture, Alice’s furniture, and boxes, boxes, boxes.
On Wednesday, the day before our trip, we collected our remaining food that wouldn’t last until our return. I made three trips to the local transfer station to get rid of food, leftover packing materials, and junk that remained at Alice’s former property.
We finished at 6 pm on February 26. We left at 6 am the next morning to start our around-the-world trip!
We thought we were all set. Then, in Canada, we heard that Alice’s buyer had backed out. The buyer heard that she was about to lose her job. We quickly had our realtor relist the property. A week later, Alice got an offer from a new buyer. After some negotiating, Alice accepted the new offer. Maybe we can finally relax and enjoy our travels.