I never intended this house to be our "forever house." I never even really intended to have a "forever house" at all. My parents moved into our Hell's Kitchen apartment when I was two years old, and they live there still, so you'd think I'd have some visceral desire for permanence - but I've had many apartments, and many houses, and all of them have felt, to a greater or lesser extent, like home. I put up the pictures that I've carted with me back and forth across the country over and over again, and drape my favorite throw blanket over a bed, and all of a sudden even a temporary corporate rental isn't just "where I'm staying"...it's where I live.

When we decided to move to San Jose for Kendrick's new job, I knew so little about the area that I told people I was headed to San Francisco - as opposed to a major city that may be adjacent to San Francisco, but most certainly is not a part of it - and people on the Internet made fun of me. I'd say it was terrifying moving to a place that I knew so little about, and that was so far away from my friends and my parents, but it wasn't, not especially. Because whatever was going to happen, we were going to be together. And so at least there'd be that.

So I flew out to California with my four-year-old son to look for a house, and we both got viral gastroenteritis and ended up in the hospital, and so we did not find a house on that trip. I did eventually find a house, though, thanks to a broker who was willing to take me on countless virtual FaceTime tours of available properties while I sat on my couch in New York. We bought the house we live in now having never actually stepped foot inside it. I thought it was fine, but probably not *perfect,* but I also thought it didn't really matter, because it's not like we couldn't move if we wanted to one day.