Yesterday afternoon, after a very long day of driving, we pulled up to our house.

“Got your key?” Brent asked.

“No, the only keys I have are the keys to the car.”

“Oh yeah? Better check again.” He’d put them on my keyring in Portland, which was a cute touch.

I unlocked the house, and we stepped inside.

It was great. I’ve looked at the pictures from the listing about a thousand times. I was taken on a Blair Witch-style tour from Brent when he came down.

But it’s TOTALLY not the same as seeing it in person.

I love the house. There’s really no other way to put it. It needs different paint in multiple places, but that’s such an easy fix it’s hardly worth mentioning.

We met neighbors. The woman across the street introduced herself as soon as we got out of the car. She doesn’t live here, but her daughter has something to do at the hospital, so she’s here to take care of her.

The woman two doors down stepped out to say hello (and that she lived in Vancouver, Washington for nine years and really hated it) when we walked down to get the mail.

I showed Stanley the pool, which he was afraid of, then told him that this was our backyard. As if on cue, he rolled around in the grass.

We didn’t spend much time there, because it was late afternoon and we both wanted to see Clara before her bedtime.

So we got back in the car, and hopped on the freeway.

“This is our house, this is how to drive from our house to my parents’ house,” Brent said aloud, trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince me.

Seeing Clara after a week apart was a real treat.

I walked in the front door. Penny said to Clara, “I told you I had a surprise for you!” and Clara said, “MAMA!” and stood up from whatever she was playing with and ran over to me.

She had a great time with her Nonie and Lat, but man, a week is a long time to go without getting to hang out with her, so I was thrilled that she wanted to snuggle as much as I did.

We ordered Chinese food for dinner, and while we were sitting at the table, Clara kept looking over at me and smiling her big doofy smile, non-verbally telling me how happy she was to be near me. That kind of thing makes my heart so happy.

We were exhausted, and turned in early.

So it feels a little like we’re on vacation. Except there’s a lot to do, even before our things come. (We don’t know when that will be.)

Today, someone is coming to give us a quote on making the dog door big enough for Stanley. The people before us had a schnauzer. The bed is getting delivered sometime between 9am and noon.

So we’re all going — the four of us, anyway — for the first part of the day.

But it definitely isn’t real yet. I have calls planned and I want to get some work done, but none of it is going to be done soon.

PLUS, there’s a trip I’ve had planned for months that coincides with me being gone next week.

So, maybe it’ll feel like real life once I come back from that.

But maybe not?

Who knows. I do know that I’m happy to be here, and that everyone is worried about how I’ll take the heat. It’s a tough adjustment, for sure!