April 24, 2001
The house we looked at yesterday was very near-perfect. The only real problem was/were, the size of the non-master bedrooms. All three of them. Bruce measured them, and each was 12 x 11 (or something like that) foots. That is, 12 or so of Bruce's foot. Which works out to somewhere around 10 x 10.5 feet. Very small to fit in a queen size bed and anything else, unfortunately.
But here's the odd part - the master bedroom is of a reasonable size. Not huge, not tiny. Just about right, in my opinion. But the master bathroom is easily the size of Bruce's apartment here. It has two walk-in closets, a large counter with double sinks, a big soaking tub (Mmmmmmm!) a standalone shower stall, a separate room for the toilet, and probably a wet bar hidden beneath one of the counters. As Bruce said yesterday, "I could live in there and never have to come out except to eat." Yep, it's that big. But you can see the problem easily enough. While either Bruce or I would be very happy in that setup, the other would be crammed into a tiny little room without an adjoining bathroom. So, ok, one pays more rent - that works. But in reality, neither of us needs that kind of room and both of us would feel uncomfortable having it, with the knowledge that while one of us lives the high life, the other is slumming it. Well, I would feel guilty. I guess I shouldn't speak for Bruce. :)
The rest of the house was absolutely perfect. Exactly the kind of thing we've been looking for. Beautiful vaulted ceilings, large kitchen with modern appliances, gas stove (!), lots and lots of storage space, room for all my furniture (and then some!), nice patio, great view, etc., etc. So we thought about it and I'd decided that if it meant so much to Bruce, I'd be gracious on the master bedroom thing.... I don't have much bedroom furniture anyhow. All I really wanted out of that deal was the tub. And ok, the balcony would have been nice too. But not if it was going to make Bruce miserable. I'd just sent him a note asking how much extra he was willing to pay for it (I'm nice, but not stupid! After all, I was willing to pay extra to have the privacy and a woman can't exactly run around in a towel the way guys can - well, not this woman anyway. Ya know? ;), when something happened to change everything. (And I can't tell you about it. Not yet, anyhow. Maybe tomorrow.)
So regretfully, I had to call the nice lady who owns the place and tell her we'd hit a major snag. I could have cried. That house was really lovely. She was very sweet and understanding and told me to call her back if anything changed again before the end of the week, since she really liked us and wanted us to have it. This made me feel even worse, because we really liked her too. And of course, we really liked the house.
Thus, we are back here at the beginning again: Square One.
<sigh>
