Little House on the Prairie

Life isn’t just all about the
endings, is it? It’s a series of continuous moments, unless probably
when the judgment day has come. So when we see Tom Hanks and his son
finally meet Meg Ryan on top of The Empire Building, or when Hugh Grant
rush to the conference room and admits to Julia Robert about being a
daft prick, I really would like to know what’s next lie waiting for
them. Perhaps we can come back ten years later, are they squabbling a
lot? Are they still together? And so many other question ones can
conjure up their minds (But please none of those dimwitted sequels
around).

So when I got me a call the other day
from a lady with a nice voice saying that my loan application to their
bank is approved, I was overjoyed. I’ve been dreaming about this for so
long. Having a home of our own, albeit it’s a small one and situated at
about one hour from whence I’m currently working. As the Chinese would
say, a journey of thousand miles started with a single step. Well, this
is my single step forward.

It was not that easy applying
for the loan. Plenty of work papers need to be filled. The Primary Tax
Number for one and how to convince the previous owner to let us copy
his Ownership Certificate was just among several tricky things we face
along the way. Good thing the Bank’s marketing staff happens to know a
member of my wife’s family. We really received gargantuan amount of
help from him. Imagine, we’ve got our approval notice in less than a week.

My wife is such a great saver. If it
were up to me, we’d have end up with zilch amount in the bank, for I
was such a reckless spender. But thanks to her crafty and strict
expenses management policy, we had enough to pay half the House and
save some for renovation and furniture. Many people said that the price
really was a bargain, plenty of offers in the table, yet because the
owner is residing in Surabaya, it’s rather difficult for them to reach
any agreement. My wife flew all the way to Surabaya to convince the
family that we’re the right buyer for them. Kudos for her, she managed
to persuade them to come to Jakarta when the contract signing date
arrived.

It’s not all well and dandy though;
we still have to face the moving on thing, which is going to be a real
bitch. Facing several squabbles deciding what color to choose for the
paint, what kind of coffee table and sofas to fill the living room. How
to be more docile facing the commute every day from home to the office
is one of the daunting prospect lies ahead, and many more. Hopefully
that will not take the joy out of our new start, as I was saying, life
is a series of continuous moments.  

When I was a little boy, I loved to
watch Little House on the Prairie every Sunday for years. We have our
own little house now, and South of Bekasi is our new prairie.

Euro RSCG Portfolio