Update #1

A few months ago, Ben (my husband) and I looked at the price of houses in our area. We had started to out grow the very first house we bought together. We were surprised at how much houses had soared in price from when we purchased, especially in our immediate area. We called the realtor who helped us find and purchase our house. We asked her what an approximate listing for our house would be. This led us to make the decision to move. We then asked the question of, “Where do we move?” We had several options as Ben has been working from home since the pandemic began and I stay home with our children. We wanted to be closer to family so we began looking in the two states that our families live in, Massachusetts and Arizona. Originally, we thought we were going to go to Arizona to be by my family. But as we were talking through options I remembered a conversation that we had previously. About a house that his family had that was currently empty. No one wanted to move back to their home state (Massachusetts) to live in it.

We made plans to go see the house while visiting and express our interest in living in the house. The visit was amazing! Not only did I get to learn and hear stories about the house but I also got to learn about the family that had previously lived there. I found a chest full of clothes from the late 1890’s that belonged to Aunt Nellie (William Morrissey’s favorite sister). We discovered a porcelain doll named Catherine and learned of her adventures. Our interest in living in the house quickly turned into conversations about what the house would need for us to move in and about Ben’s family who built and lived in the house previously. We began to discuss the finer details of moving in and how to make it work. After visiting the house and hearing the family stories that went along with not only the house but also its contents we couldn’t not move in.

We picked a moving day and began to pack up our house and prep it to be put on the market. While we were doing this Ben’s grandmother, Susan, and Aunt Jane had begun clearing things out of the Morrissey home for us. As it holds belongings from the past family members. Moving day finally arrived and we finished emptying the last of our things from our very first home. We began packing them into the car, the POD, or the quickly growing mountain of trash in front of our house. Including our two very unhappy cats. We snagged a photo in front of the house and began the 12+ hour drive from central Ohio to Massachusetts.

The 12+ hour drive from Ohio to Massachusetts with two small girls and two unhappy, but slightly drugged, cats in carriers was an experience that I am hoping to not need to repeat. But along the way we found the town of Buttzville, PA, a cat burrito, and a juck/treep (a jeep and truck combination).

We finally arrived in Massachusetts at 10:15am approximately 12 and a half hours after our journey began. We were met by Susan and got to see what she and Aunt Jane had cleared and what still needed to get done. The next steps are clearing out enough rooms for us to live in and moving in.

Lots of Love,
The McMullin Family