Unshelved by Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes

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Sunday, September 16, 2007

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House Hunting

by Bill ( link to this post | email me | my twitter )

So we're house hunting.

I had hoped not to do this for, say, two or three more decades. We did a big old remodel on our current house several years ago, customizing it for our busy home-schooling, home-office, four-adults-and-two-kids-with-hopes-for-more life. It's just about perfect. We love it. We love the neighborhood. No one wants to leave.

Except... except that a little over four years ago we adopted Rosie, a newborn African American. We wanted a newborn, and we didn't have issues with having a multicolored family, in fact it sounded like fun. This turns out to have been on the naive side. The more we have learned about transracial adoption, the more we have seen that Rosie is in for a world of hurt if we don't change certain aspects of our lives. Chief of which is that we live in a largely white neighborhood, so she is constantly "the other." So we've committed to moving someplace radically more diverse in ethnic makeup. Someplace where both Rosie and Theo interact every day with people who look like Rosie.

So we're househunting. And in the process learning a lot about neighborhoods in Seattle we heretofore haven't spent much time in. So far we're looking in Mt. Baker, Seward Park, Columbia City, Beacon Hill, Judkins Park, and Madrona. It's interesting but exhausting. We need a largish house to fit our largish tribe, and a biggish yard for our energetic (and homeschooled) kids. As per usual, our situation is overconstrained. I wonder what will give?