A broad heading, I know - what I want. But I have been thinking for so long about what I want for this family and I feel compelled to capture some of the key aspects, the less tangible things. Of course we need (want/need) a bigger house. Four bedrooms at least, five or six would be better. A couple of bathrooms, a nice yard, a safe street, good schools. All of the basic decent life sort of stuff. But as I have spent the past five years searching intensely for our next place, the place I hope we will settle for the next 15 years and beyond, I’ve had the chance to envision our possible lives in different places, different houses, different permutations of us. And from all of that I have a mental list - or more of a mental cloud - of things that are important to me beyond the practical four walls.  

So in no particular rank, and with more to be added as I think of them, here are some of those things.

• room enough to plant a large vegetable garden, including a patch of corn
• the ability to walk to a store to buy a gallon of milk - not everyday necessarily but if I had to
• a decent vista, a sense of space around the house, which can be achieved on acreage or on a smaller but well placed lot
• a good neighborhood for trick-or-treating
• great parks, rec center, library, etc within walking and/or biking distance
• a house with a face, that is, a house not completely hidden behind garage, something with linear street presence
• a house that’s big enough to allow family and friends to stay with us for long, comfortable visits (imagining not only grandparents visiting but later on of cousins coming for long visits in the summer)
• accessibility to the greater world via feet, bike, bus, etc.

As I’ve looked at houses - thousands upon thousands of online listings - and researched communities, I have become keenly aware of what is important to me and what I believe is important to our family. But it’s hard too. Some of the things I desire for us are very difficult to find coexisting - space and accessibility. I ping-pong between the two, never truly settling. I know I don’t want acreage at the price of being isolated, or even remote. I want to be part of a community. Desperately. Yet….