Finally! A place to rest our head.

After submitting two applications and waiting on pins and needles for a response, I checked good old familiar Craigslist again this morning and saw something very curious.

Our old place. The one we lived in before in Topanga. We had thought we’d been replaced by people who would live there at least a year. But here it was. Available. (With our furniture still in it, too.)

This was completely unexpected. I called the owner, told her we were still looking, and a half hour later, we had a place to live in again – the place where we lived before. We move in Tuesday.

This is good news in many ways. One, it’s a bit of familiarity. Two, a lot of our furniture is already there so the moving won’t be nearly as bad (just need to get stuff from storage now.) Three, we really like it there. Four, Loretta our landlord is incredibly flexible and we don’t even sign a lease. If need be, we can move whenever. Five, it’s about $600-$800 less per month when utilities and rent are all figured in than anywhere else we had found. And six, she didn’t require a security deposit – that’s another couple thousand back in my pocket. Let’s go for some more. Seven, it’s within walking distance of some of the most beautiful hiking around.Eight, apparently the septic can handle our incredible bathroom-using abilities.

So there you have it, folks. The long strange trip is coming to an end…. right back where we started. And this would never have been expected – seriously! Sometimes the exact right place is exactly what you could not imagine. But then when it happens, it makes perfect sense.

And want to know something funny? Right after I dropped a check off with Loretta to secure the place, I got an email from the owner of the previously aforementioned “Dream House” (note: this Dream House, while still Dreamy, was replaced by a second Dream House in order of preference.) She was accepting us to live there at the lower rate! Now I think it was no accident that I got this email after everything with Loretta was said and done and finalized, because then Darby and I were spared some confusion and agonizing decision-making. And as nice as the other house is, it would have been much more money than this one will be.

So now… I know what I’ll be doing for the next 10 weeks, and I know where I’ll be living. Not bad. Not bad at all.