Al and I were newlyweds, and he really  needed a new chest of drawers.  So one Sunday we went out looking.  Our first stop was Scandinavian designs (before IKEA) and we found a great dresser.  We decided we wanted to keep looking.  We went to several stores, in and out of the car, wandering around furniture stores.  Finally we realized we were looking for a dresser like the one we had seen four hours before at S.D.

Flash forward thirty years.  We have moved to southern California and started looking at open houses even before we were ready to buy a house.  This was because we wanted to check out all the areas.  Well, Al did anyway.  I knew I wanted to live in San Clemente, but he rightfully felt I should see all the towns in the area. We saw some great houses and neighborhoods and views and bathrooms and kitchens.

When it was finally time to get a real estate agent, we told her what we were looking for.  The first house was great – beautiful view, nice house.  It was painted dark colors and we thought “well, we’ll keep looking, maybe we’ll find a house with this view and layout that we won’t have to paint.”  A hundred houses later I was looking through my phone and came across photos of that house.  I emailed my real estate agent and told her that was the house we should have bought.  Live and learn.

Much to my amazement she told me it was still available.  It was still available because the owner had a ninety day escrow on another house, and she didn’t want to have to wait for someone to sell their home before buying hers.  Since we had already sold our house – we had a window of opportunity.

Long story short, she accepted our offer today.  I cannot even believe it.  The old saw “if it’s meant to be” really is true.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when she told me that house was still active.  I went back for a second look and let me tell you, it was hands down nicer than anything we had seen in that price range, and the view is worth at least a few hundred grand more.  My friend Deanne yelled at me, wondering what the heck we were thinking last month when we first saw it.  It was the first house we saw – we really should have just trusted our agent.  She’s a pro.

We will stay in our rental til the end of January – her ninety day escrow, which she is thirty days into,  worked well for us too.  If our landlord doesn’t let us out of our lease we will only be one month paying double rent.

Many years ago we would come to the beach at San Clemente with the boys and it was my favorite vacation spot.  The ocean waves are the best for body surfing.  Whenever we would leave for home I would wonder what it must be like to live in a place like that.

Dreams come true.