We drove around looking at open houses, neighborhoods, and houses that are for sale but not open. Nothing stirred us the way the two townhomes we saw yesterday did. So, this is going to take some time. But we’re in much better spirits today because we feel a little more in control of the process. And, in a strange way, it felt good to reject some places. We made a bit of a game out of it. Because we had Jack with us and because Jack was in ultra-cranky-baby mode, we took turns going in to look at places while the other stayed with Jack in the car. When we were both done we told each other what the other person liked and didn’t like about it.

“OK,” I said, “You really liked the sunken living room and the built-in bookshelves but you hated the main Brady Bunch style stairs and the weird kitchen”

“Exactly!” said Ann. “And you liked the finished TV room in the basement but didn’t care for the back yard and the lack of a gardening place.”

The nice thing about this is that I really do grok what Ann is looking for so that when she goes back to Rhode Island, I’ll be able to look at places and accurately judge what she would think about them.

It’s going to be a long strange trip until we finally get settled somewhere…