Yesterday, we exchanged contracts. It was a relief! It is unnerving to get to within ten days of the completion date with no firm guarantees that it will all go through. At least, the act of exchanging contracts gives more security in that all parties firm up their commitment to sell/buy as the case may be.
It is now ten weeks since we accepted an offer on our house in Salisbury and our offer on the smallholding in Wales was accepted. In the grand scheme of things, it is a short length of time - and things have progressed smoothly on the whole. Yet, it feels like a long time because the process is stressful. Moving is at the very top the list of stressful life events, on par with death of a loved one and divorce. Even though the move is what we want and we are excited by it, there is still much disruption to our routine and that is stressful. Along the way, there is a fair amount of uncertainty and lack of control too... How have we coped with it? By keeping alive our vision for our new adventure, by supporting each other with compassion and sensitivity (most of time anyway!) for our own individual vulnerabilities and quirky reactions to stress... and by eating cake! There has been a lot of baking these past 10 weeks! So now, with contracts exchanged and a deposit paid, we can get on with practical things like getting the utilities sorted, liaising with the removal company, change of address, etc. We got our new phone number today!
Day by day, we get closer to our new life... there's no hurrying this process, the finish line is in sight. Or is it the start?
