Everything is Worth It at the Entrance of Our New Home
On Saturday, January 31st, my husband, our two cats, and I began living in our new home. It is in Chuo-ku, Fukuoka City. This is our second home since coming to Fukuoka.
I hadn't realized it at all when we set the date, but it seems the last Saturday of the month is a peak season for moving. My husband found a few moving companies for us, but the major ones had aggressive pricing, and while the local ones were more affordable, they couldn't specify a time, saying they 'wouldn't know the schedule until the day before.' The gas shut-off service was already fully booked, and we could only choose the day before we moved out. If we can plan it, I want to remember until our next move that we should avoid moving on weekends at the end of the month.
It was the same when we first came to Fukuoka. My husband and I moved from Kyoto to Fukuoka six and a half years ago, in August 2019, before remote work became common due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, we were both working at the same company, but due to family circumstances—specifically, caring for my husband's father—we consulted with the company about returning to my husband's hometown of Fukuoka to work remotely. Incidentally, my husband was quite reluctant to move to Fukuoka, but I made up my mind, thinking, 'I'll regret it if I don't go,' and pushed it through somewhat forcefully with both my husband and the company. In our more than ten years of marriage, that is the only time I have expressed my will so strongly as to override my husband's firm opposition. In any case, we only had a month and a half from the time we decided until we actually moved. We decided on the property and the date on a whim, and on the day of the move, we got on the Shinkansen with our two cats (it was right after a planned suspension due to a typhoon, and the extreme heat made it very difficult for the cats), and we literally moved here for dear life.
Because of that, while my husband and I have zero planning skills, it took us about five years to find this current home. There are almost no rental properties in this world that allow for the keeping of two cats, which is a mandatory requirement for our household. My gut feeling is that they make up 0.1% or less. On top of that, when you add conditions like the desired layout and location, they really don't exist.
Six and a half years ago, it was a race against time and we couldn't afford to be picky, so we left it to the real estate agent with only the condition that 'two cats are allowed' (but as a result, we loved that house and the city so much that we lived there for over six years, so real estate agents are amazing). This time, once I decided it was time to find a new property, I took my time and chose carefully. I will confess that I kept looking at R-Fudosan during my work breaks, or rather, even between online meetings.
You might think, 'If you have so many requirements, you should build a house,' but we actually own a home in Kyoto. We moved here even though we own a home. I thought I would live there for the rest of my life, though. For a couple with zero planning skills, we don't need any big purchases for a while.
Let's get back to the new home. This move was, as usual, difficult. In addition to it being the peak moving season, work was also busy (this is my own responsibility), and I panicked when I developed cystitis a few days before the move. I was also worried about whether our cats, who had become quite senior over the last six years, would be able to adjust to the new home.
Even so, the moment I got out of our car with our two cats at the new home on the day of the move, everything was worth it. This view. I thought, this is my ideal home. I'm so glad I didn't give up and kept looking.
There is one lesson I learned from moving. It is that if you envision your ideal and don't give up, there is a possibility that you will encounter that ideal someday. I tend to focus on how to do things or whether I can do them well, but I must not give up on my ideal life.
I want to believe that my lack of planning was actually the flexibility and adaptability needed to obtain my ideal.
Oh, and the cats I was worried about were completely relaxed from the day after the move, which made me laugh. Let's continue to live happily together.