A house? A home?

We found a house! It seems quite miraculous that it would happen so fast - I was preparing for a longer sojourn at the Serena since we heard from several people that finding a house could take a month or two. But it seems the stars were favorably aligned and Tom and I must have done something right, for it to work out like this. Turns out we can move in on Monday!

The house is in a lovely, quiet, part of the city, romantically called “E-7.” While all the quarters of Islamabad are perfectly squared, E-7 is a triangle with its hypotenuse pushing against Margalla hills. We’ll be living at the very end of Street 14, across from an elementary school, next to a small park. It’s an upstairs flat of a very new and large house. It’s so vast, that it can be intimidating. But I heeded the advise of Dr. Jenny, who said not be afraid of the big houses, and to consider most carefully the quality of the kitchen. She was right. In the 15 apartments or so that I saw, the kitchen was the quality predictor of the rest of the house. In this case, the kitchen is brand new and has a beautiful view of the hills. The same hills are also showcased in the window of the dining room and living room. They look similar to Southern California hills: alternating between gentle slopes and jaggedy edges, covered by dry chaparral. They seem just meters away. Trees surround the house and bird calls resonate from their branches. The light, the hills and the trees, the newness of the house, the sleepy location, make it a wonderful home for us.

Yes, home. It is much easier to feel at home now. Much easier than it was six months ago when I moved to DC, to a new life, to a future husband I hardly knew. I suppose it’s easier now because in my heart I feel more comfortable, because in our relationship, in our marriage, I feel more comfortable. All of it is still new, just a few months old, just an infant relationship, compared to those that last 10 or 50 years. And Islamabad is its play pin.