mortgage-free

this is our symbolic banker; see his little monocle?

and here we are:
banker, mortgage and us...

we bought this house almost 15 years ago. it was our first real, longterm debt (even our first car loan we paid off in 6 months, it unnerved me so to owe anyone anything)
this debt was our entry into adulthood. and then i lost my job before we even moved in! but we didn't let that take away our joy of having our place in the world.

the day we moved in, January 27th, there was a blizzard and the hallway filled with snow. i remember being so worried about my hardwood floor (ok, parquet); these were my floors, and i'd never had my own floors before!
we couldn't spend the first night in our first house... the truck had to be returned to brampton, and the blizzard meant bunking down at mom's for safety sake. so it wasn't until the 28th that we really moved in to our place: our -Large - place!
because whatever-in-the-world were we doing with a 3 bedroom house?! i was afraid the neighbors would think we were pretentious. (this is when i thought people paid attention to what i did, now i know better!)
but we wanted to fill a house with children. and after some hardtimes, we did. 1, 2, 3.

this is their home; the only one they've ever known.
we have scrimped and we have saved.
we threw every spare penny to double-ups and lump sum payments. this day was just a date on a calendar for so long - and maybe we still don't know what to do with our newfound freedom - but we knew for sure that we wanted to share this moment with our family and friends, the people who mean the most to us.

and so:
a karaoke dance party!  it was blast.  thank you all for coming and making it such a great night...