Friday, May 6, 2011

Goodbye Longfellow Road


The last three months have whirled by as we successfully moved from Arlington to a bigger house in Lexington. Step 1, finding a new house, turned out to be the easy part. A house came on the market on a Wednesday in late February that looked fantastic and three days later it was ours. We've spent more time pondering where to buy diapers, much less the most important investment of our lives. At least we are decisive.

Step 2, selling the old house, was a process about as much fun as a root canal. With the packing, the cleaning, the staging, the evacuations, and the demoralizing inspections it was not an enjoyable month of March. We had one offer fall through and then the second buyer found termites(!), but in the end it all worked out. On April 15th we handed over the keys and said goodbye to Longfellow.

We closed on March 31st and that very same day Heather learned that she had been "deselected" from her job at Pfizer. It was a mixed blessing because ever since Wyeth was taken over, her job had been deteriorating as the Pfizer way was imposed on her group. The past 6 months were truly miserable and she was ready to leave. Pfizer lived up to their reputation as being the worst pharmaceutical company in the world.

Spring finally arrived as we settled into the new house. The girls were moved into the same bedroom, and quickly adapted to a new routine. We love the bigger kitchen and bathrooms, where we no longer have to dance around each other. And Heather found that post-Pfizer there are numerous job opportunities, and she accepted an offer to join Alkermes, a mid-size biotech company, starting in June. We are looking forward to some stability in our lives, at least for a few months!

A photo just after our offer was accepted, on a rare night out at Little Q Hot Pot

Packing a storage pod to declutter was a necessity

The kids were good sports the whole time as their toys disappeared and their rooms emptied. Caroline stayed entertained while we cleaned up the attic.

We took a weekend off to visit Lyla, Charlie, & Katy in NY

Charlie wasn't sure what to make of Erin

We will miss certain things from our old house, like the secluded backyard,

the flower beds,

and the blueberries, raspberries, and bean plots.

And there are things that we won't miss, like the ground-level deck


and the barely one-car garage.

The kitties will miss their big-screen TV outside the kitchen doors

and the kids will miss their snacks in the sun on the front steps

Hello Lexington!


Caroline shows off her fairy moves

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